Please come to meet our new students and the new chair Professor Liz Davidson. Light pupus will be provided.

Alum Rajib Subba's crisis response work in Nepal

Rajib Subba shared a summary of his work in the aftermath of the April 2015 Nepal earthquake.

Dear Prof. Gazan,

You are aware that Nepal witnessed one of it's biggest disasters in recent times. Aftershock are still coming though frequency has gown down. According to reports Nepal will be experiencing more aftershocks may be for a year.

Now after two months I have some free time to recollect. I am sharing some of the works I did here based on my research with Prof. Bui at CIS Dept.

With in 24 hours of first earthquake on 25 April, I took two initiatives for public service through crowd sourcing crisis information. As a public service and safety professional working with Nepalese government I went extra miles by starting Short Messaging Services and Twitter. The SMS service was started the same day to help citizens provide any crisis related information. I created the twitter account for my organization the next day. And took over facebook page which I had created 2.5 years ago. During the crisis response duration I lead 10 member social media and SMS team. Moreover I was leading Directorate of Communications at the same time.

With in a short period of time our team’s work started to bring results as more and more people were reporting crisis information through these three channels. Social media particularly twitter became immense help in situational awareness and crisis response in Nepal. I single handedly worked for twitter account during search, rescue and relief operations. Use of social media in crisis management is first of its kind in Nepal. Therefore it drew lots of attention from public as well media. I am happy that my work has been featured by two national dailies and I have been quoted in many news in national dailies for my contribution in crisis response through social media.

I have attached a collection of all these news. Thought you would like to know how your student far off is doing. :-)

These newspaper collections are testimonial of my work at the CIS Dept. The theoretical knowledge gained during my PhD literally helped me do my job successfully. The theoretical knowledge was practically experimented. Moreover this work has broadened my understanding of utilizing social media for crisis response.

Abstract: The United States is the second leading destination country for sex trafficking in the world. Increased effort to understand patterns of sex trafficking within the U.S. is imperative to combating this issue. Covert networks are increasingly using information and communication technologies (ICTs) to extend their operations. Due to the increase in sex trafficking network activity online, there is a need for systematic research and methods especially in terms of technology facilitated sex trafficking. This study examined how publicly available information can be used to uncover covert networks and sex trafficking patterns in the United States through the study of dark networks from a sociotechnical perspective. The intent was to observe the types of data available in online advertisements and to identify ways to exploit data into meaningful information that can be used to disrupt this activity. Network analysis methods were applied to sex trafficking activity in online environments to identify sex trafficking trends within the U.S. Content analysis was used to identify important data fields in online escort advertisement that presented virtual indicators of sex trafficking. This data was further exploited using social network analysis (SNA) methods to identify provider networks and movement trends. Methods are presented to identify potential victims, provider networks, and domestic movement trends. Covert networks are continuously balancing security risk with operational necessity to communicate to external audiences. By using the Internet as a communication channel it becomes a lens to observe this activity. Consistency of findings with known trafficking trends demonstrated the effectiveness of the method to uncover covert networks and circuits within the U.S.

CIS student Stacy Naipo has been awarded a Tapia 2015 Scholarship, sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The scholarship includes conference registration, hotel accommodations and reimbursable travel stipend.

The ACM Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing will be held in Boston, February 18-21, 2015. For more information, see http://tapiaconference.org/. Congratulations Stacy!

Chamil Rathnayake first recipient of Dan J. Wedemeyer Teaching Award

CIS PhD student Chamil Rathnayake is the first recipient of the Dan J. Wedemeyer Excellence in Teaching Award, given by the UH School of Communications. Congratulations Chamil!

(from the UH School of Communications official announcement)

We are excited to announce the first recipient of our new Dan J. Wedemeyer Award for Excellence in Teaching, Chamil Rathnayake! This award honors a Graduate Teaching Assistant who has demonstrated outstanding teaching skill and concern for student learning. The award is named in honor of Emeritus Professor Dan J. Wedemeyer, who served as a mentor and model for excellence in teaching for hundreds of graduate students over the course of his career in the School of Communications and the Interdisciplinary PhD Program in Communication and Information Sciences.

Rajib Subba awarded Nepal Education Medal

Dr. Rajib Subba has been conferred with Nepal Bidhya Bhushan (Nepal Education Medal - Gold) by President of Nepal Dr. Ram Baran Yadab on national education day on 8th September, 2014 for his PhD work. Congratulations Rajib!

Honolulu Community College Chancellor Erika Lacro was named one of 15 Omidyar Fellows. The program is designed to build stronger leaders, more effective organizations, and cross-sector connections that are necessary to collectively affect community change. More information can be found at http://www.omidyarfellows.org/.

The University of Hawaiʻi System offices and campuses statewide will be reducing or suspending operations on non-instructional days from December 17, 2012–January 1, 2013. The reduction in operations is in support of continuing efforts to reduce energy consumption and recover cost savings.Tuesday, December 25, and Tuesday, January 1, are state holidays and all offices will be closed on those days.

Most offices and buildings at the University of Hawaii at Manoa will be closed this coming Thanksgiving weekend as part of the Manoa Green Days initiative. More information is available at: http://manoa.hawaii.edu/facilities/mgd

CIS affiliate faculty member Meheroo Jussawalla has died following a long illness.

You are cordially invited to join us Wednesday, August 8, noon-1 in Hamilton Library 3F (ground floor), as we welcome back Dr. Johannes Meier, CEO of the European Climate Foundation and the first graduate of the CIS PhD program, for a rare summer talk. All are welcome to attend!

Climate Change and Philanthropy

Dr. Johannes Meier, CEO European Climate Foundation

Risks don’t come any bigger than the danger that climate change will become irreversible. This is the context in which climate change funders evaluate their own ‘risk’. The European Climate Foundation (ECF) serves as a conduit for the climate change mitigation funding of other European and US foundations, regranting the majority of that funding to NGOs, think tanks, and coordination platforms engaged in advocacy efforts aimed at reducing Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions and helping Europe to play a stronger international leadership role in mitigating climate change. In his talk Johannes Meier, CEO ECF, will point at the real risks that come from failing to act. Examples of interventions of the ECF are given to illustrate how philanthropy can play a strategic role given the huge challenges.

Johannes Meier holds a M.S. in Computer Science from RWTH Aachen and a Ph.D. in Communication and Information Sciences from UH Manoa. Prior to joining the European Climate Foundation as CEO he was a partner at McKinsey & Co., CEO of GE CompuNet Computer AG, managing board member of the Bertelsmann Foundation, and founder of a software company developing coordination platforms. Johannes Meier sits on the supervisory boards of Xing AG, Leipzig Graduate School of Management and Unicef Germany.

CIS Alumnus receives teaching award

Peter Leong (CIS 2006) was named a 2012 recipient of the Regents' Medal for Excellence in Teaching at the University of Hawai‘i. Leong is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Education Technology.

The awards were announced this spring and will be presented at the annual System Awards Convocation ceremony scheduled for September 13, 2012.

Kar-Hai Chu and Lisa Yoda received their PhD degrees in Commencement Exercises on Saturday, May 12, 2012 at the Stan Sheriff Center. We welcome them as new alumni of the Communication and Information Sciences Interdisciplinary PhD Program!

CIS PhD candidate Erika Lacro named HCC Chancellor

The University of Hawai‘i Board of Regents has approved the appointment of Erika Lacro as chancellor of Honolulu Community College. Erika is working on her CIS dissertation entitled "Enhancing Student Learning and Success through the use of Social Networking Technologies."

Erika has been vice chancellor for academic affairs at HCC. UH Vice President for Community Colleges John Morton (CIS 1997) commented on her promotion: "I am very pleased to have Erika selected as the next chancellor of Honolulu Community College and to have her as a part of the community college team.”

We have the opportunity to raise funds for the CIS PhD Program, and especially for the new Student Support Fund, on Monday, May 7. California Pizza Kitchen in Kahala Mall will donate 20% of each purchase that day to our program if the attached coupon is used. CPK Coupon (ppt)

Just present the coupon to your server and the donation will come to CIS. Please note that we must not promote the offer or distribute coupons at or near the restaurant.

Please notify anyone you think might be interested. As you know, our annual financial footprint is very small and even modest proceeds from this event will allow us to assist many more PhD students with the costs of conference travel, presentations, software and other incidental expenses associated with graduate education

The Internet, and the social web in particular, have been argued to both support the emergence of a fully participatory and diverse society, and also reinforce preexisting power structures and information polarization. The conditions for the realization of an Internet enabled participatory society span multiple dimensions: technical, economical, political, social, and communicational. The emergent field of online deliberation focuses on web-based environments to support participatory politics. One of the main challenges in the field is maximizing diversity and understanding underlying communicational and affective dynamics of argumentation between people coming from very different standpoints. This work will analyze users' mediated communications in three different deliberative environments and will inquire in particular how participants appear empowered or constrained by the use of certain mediational means in (a) communicating empathically, (b) expressing a rich diversity of views, and (c) with what deliberative outcomes. In order to address these questions I will utilize mixed methods that will complement each other in the analysis of the interactions: on the one hand, a qualitative critical discourse analysis and, on the other hand, a multi-level network analysis. Both analyses will be informed by standpoint epistemology, a framework that allows to highlight the experiences and knowledge of the least heard and therefore understand flows in the systems and offer potential solutions.

From the Weakest Link to the Best Defense: Exploring the Factors that Affect Employee Intention to Comply with Information Security Policies. Tuesday, April 24th, 2012, 3-5 p.m. in BUSAD D204.

There are numerous threats to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of organizational information and information systems. While there are many security mechanisms designed to mitigate the information security risks from relevant threats, it is often incumbent upon users to utilize the technologies and/or procedures
faithfully and properly for them to be effective; information security depends on the effective behavior of humans. To assist users, organizations provide employees information security policies (ISPs). An ISP describes employee roles and responsibilities, addressing specific security issues, in protecting the information resources of their organization. Unfortunately, occurrences of employee non-compliance with the guidance provided in their ISPs is significant, resulting in billions of dollars annually in losses to their organizations.

The challenge for organizations is to know how to transform users from the biggest information security vulnerability to the first line of information security defense. Researchers, particularly in the last decade, have attempted to answer the call of practitioners to better explain the factors affecting non-malicious employee behavioral intent to comply with organizational ISPs. However, proposed behavioral ISP compliance models are disjointed when taken as a whole, adding confusion instead of clarity to future research and practice.

Using the theory of planned behavior (TPB) as the overarching framework for evaluating behavioral intent and amplifying the components of the TPB through relevant empirical research in this topic, a composite ISP behavioral compliance model is presented in this paper. The model is applied in a specific organizational context and against a set of actual information security threats that are addressed in a real ISP. In addition, this paper explores, for the first time in this research area, the impact of referent group rank/status on ISP behavioral compliance intent when the ISP requires employees to interact with non-complying employees.

The purpose of this research is to understand the institutionalization of virtual communities by conducting an empirical study using online data collected from Facebook groups following the 2010 Haiti earthquake. The extensive literature on institutionalization mostly focuses on formal institutions with well-defined, centralized, legally bound structure. This research seeks to discuss institutionalization in the context of informal, loosely coupled and possibly ephemeral institutions, such as open virtual communities. Using Scott's institutional pillars as the theoretical and analytical foundations, this research seeks to identify unique institutional aspects that are peculiar to the virtual communities. The case study, based on qualitative methodology (Netnography), focuses on how institutional carriers may influence the diffusion and reproduction of Anti-Cyberhate Mechanisms in these self-emerging online collectives. Furthermore, this research focuses on relational coordination, as it seems to be a critical element to bring together, and sustain the existence of the virtual communities. Using extensive data postings on Facebook platforms, this dissertation seeks to understand the Anti-Cyberhate movements related to the Haiti earthquake. This research is expected to shed additional lights on the institutionalization of virtual groups.

The University of Hawai‘i System is closed on Monday, March 26, 2012, in observance of Prince Kuhio Day, a state holiday. The CIS office will be closed for the remainder of the week as well. It is the Spring Recess for campus and many offices are on reduced hours. Hamilton and Sinclair Libraries are closed.

In support of continuing efforts to reduce energy consumption and recover cost savings, the University of Hawai‘i System offices and campuses statewide will be reducing or suspending operations on non-instructional days from Tuesday, March 27, 2012 through Friday, March 30, 2012.
Details: http://www.hawaii.edu/news/closures.html

CIS PhD approved for WRGP enrollment

The Western Regional Graduate Program allows students who are residents of 15 member states to pay the resident tuition rate in approved programs at 50 participating institutions. The Communication and Information Sciences Interdisciplinary PhD Program may begin to enroll students through this program for fall 2012.

To participate in WRGP, programs must be "distinctive," meaning they must be offered at no more than four institutions in the member states (exclusive of California).

WRGP is a western regional tuition reciprocity agreement that helps departments build robust programs by diversifying their student enrollment. Students can enroll directly in the program through WRGP, once admitted by the academic program. This represents a tremendous opportunity for participating states to share distinctive programs (and the faculty who teach them).

"Exploring How Technology Mediates the Types of Relationships Formed in Sociotechnical Systems," Monday March 5, 1:30-4pm in POST 302.

This work presents an exploratory study of how technology mediates the different types of relationships that are formed in sociotechnical systems. More people each day are connecting with each other through social networks, online communities, and other forms of virtual environments. Whether for education, information seeking, friendship, professional work, or other reasons, diverse technology mediated relationships are being formed. This study explores the idea that these relationships are influenced by the affordances that technology provides. When a person navigates through a sociotechnical system, how they interact with other users can depend upon the mediating artifacts provided by the system. The resulting relationships that are built on these interactions are therefore reflected by the technology. This work offers a framework for understanding how technology, user interactions, and user relationships are connected within a sociotechnical system, and uses this framework to uncover the kinds of interactions that take place in such systems, the relationships that are constituted by these interactions, and the influence of technology on these processes. Implications are drawn for how system designs can be improved to increase sociotechnical capital.

CIS Alumnus Leads UH IT Building Project

Governor Neil Abercrombie, UH President M.R.C. Greenwood and UH Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer David Lassner (CIS 1998) spoke at a ceremony held Friday at UH Mānoa to celebrate the groundbreaking for the center.

The new six-story, 74,000-square-foot Information Technology Center on the Mānoa campus will be the first facility designed and constructed anywhere in the University of Hawaiʻi System to properly house the university's enterprise information and communications technology systems.(Full story)

Library and Information Science Graduate Program Among Top Ten

For the fifth consecutive year, the school library media specialization in the Library and Information Science (LIS) Graduate Program has been recognized as one of the top ten programs in the nation by the U.S. News and World Report in its “America's Best Graduate Schools 2012,” placing eighth in this year's survey.

U.S. News and World Report analyzes more than 12,000 different graduate program areas for this special report. Rankings are based on expert opinions regarding program quality and statistical indicators that measure the quality of the faculty, research, and students.

The LIS Program is a master's program in the College of Natural Sciences, Department of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS). Martha Crosby, ICS Department chair, commented: "The ICS department is extremely proud of the five year sustained record of excellence made by the LIS program's school library media specialization for having the U.S. News and World Report name it in the top ten out of more than 12,000 different graduate program areas programs nationally."

The graduates of the LIS Program make up 85% of the Hawaiʻi DOE's school library workforce. Several of them have received national recognition. In 2007, Kapolei High School Library led by Carolyn Kirio and Sandy Yamamoto was cited as the National School Library Media Program of the Year by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL). This year, Kailua Elementary Library was selected as one of 35 exemplary programs across the nation by the AASL and librarian Darren Tanaka was commended for his innovative approaches to learning.

In 2009, the LIS Program received a $250,000 federal grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to design and implement training for teams of high school teachers and librarians working on capstone research projects with their students. This three-year grant enables the Program to support the state's P-20 initiative.

For more information on the U.S News and World Report rankings of America's Best Graduate Schools, visit www.usnews.com/grad.

For more information on the UHM Library and Information Science Program, visit: http://www.hawaii.edu/lis/ or contact Program Chair Dr. Andrew Wertheimer at 808-956-7321 or email Wertheim@hawaii.edu.

Background: In the U.S., according to the American Cancer Society, there will be an estimated 12,710 new cases of cervical cancer in 2011 and 4,290 women will die from it. It has been established that human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is a necessary cause of cervical cancer. In 2006, new HPV vaccines were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use with young women. To promote adoption of these protective health behaviors among college women, there is a greater need for in-depth understanding of their HPV vaccine uptake decision-making.

Methods: This is a theory based cross sectional study employing a mixed method research design. College women were recruited and anonymous online surveys were administered. The survey asked questions that included HPV vaccine adoption stages, HPV related knowledge, cues to action, self-efficacy, perceived susceptibility and severity, perceived barriers and benefits, information pertinent to vaccine uptake decision-making, attitudes and background information.

Results: 357 college women participated in the HPV study. Of these, 192 participants (53.8%) reported receiving HPV vaccines. Age category, number of partners in the past year, cues to action, susceptibility without vaccine, perceived barriers and attitude towards HPV vaccines were identified with a multivariate logistic regression model to be significant predictors for HPV vaccine adoption. For college women the most pertinent factors affecting vaccine decisions included: vaccine effectiveness against HPV infection and cervical cancer, side effects, whether their health care providers will recommend the vaccine, and the cost of vaccine. From qualitative analysis, seven types of reasons for disinterest in HPV vaccines emerged: Access issues, vaccine eligibility, fear of side effects, lack of information, lack of opportunity and time, lack of perceived value and trust, and lack of recommendation.

Conclusion: The present study recommends stage based outreach efforts in order to provide accurate and timely information related to HPV and HPV vaccines and to promote protective health behaviors in college women.

Holiday campus closures

Many offices on the University of Hawaii campus, including the CIS Program Office, are closed from December 17, 2011 through January 2, 2012. The official university statement with details is below.

In support of continuing efforts to reduce energy consumption and recover cost savings, the University of Hawai'i System offices and campuses statewide will be reducing or suspending operations on non-instructional days from December 17, 2011-January 2, 2012.

Monday, Dec. 26, and Monday, Jan. 2, are state holidays and all offices will be closed on those days.

More details and specific information on how individual campus functions and activities may be affected are available online at http://www.hawaii.edu/news/closures.html

Thank you for your cooperation and continued support as we work to reduce our energy costs while also being mindful of our service responsibilities as a public institution.

Erika Lacro Proposal Defense 11/21/11

Enhancing Student Learning and Success through the use of Social Networking Technologies, Thursday, Nov. 21 at 11am in POST 302

Enhancing Student Learning and Success through the use of Social Networking Technologies

Institutions of higher learning are engaged in a difficult process of ensuring more students are successful in student learning and persist into future coursework. Four-year and two-year institutions differ greatly in their approaches to dealing with academic progress and degree completion. With the integration of a variety of technologies into teaching and learning, determining which of these technological tools can foster greater levels of student success is a key issue. A great deal of research has focused on attaining higher levels of student success that are attributed to active and collaborative learning, driven by student-generated, ubiquitous, transparent environments. This research proposal attempts to answer the question:

Can social networking technologies, linked with academic coursework and student support services, increase levels of self-efficacy leading to student success and retention?

The constructs used to measure the outcomes of participating in a social networking environment include perceived sociability of the technology used and the formal and informal peer interactions that occur. It is proposed that the perceived sociability and peer interaction will increase the students’ self-efficacy levels. This impact will drive higher levels of student success and retention in their academic career endeavors.

Spring 2012 CIS-related courses

A semi-complete list of courses and their related exam areas.

Here's a list of CIS-related courses you may wish to consider taking in the Spring. Days/times and rooms are current as of this writing, but may change. If you know of other courses being offered that you think might interest fellow students, please feel free to reply with your suggestions.

If you have specific questions about which courses would be the best preparation for a particular exam, please consult the exam committee.

Faculty Member Awarded Nearly $1 Million Grant to Study Social Networks

Associate Professor Scott Robertson (CIS, ICS) has been awarded a four-year, $948,537 grant from the National Science Foundation to study the use of social networks and new media in political deliberation, voter decision-making, and civic participation (UH-Manoa news release).

Full story at: http://manoa.hawaii.edu/news/article.php?aId=4615

Hawaii Human-Computer Interaction Lab: http://manoa.hawaii.edu/hichi/

Congrats to Summer 2011 Graduates!

Three students received Ph.D. degrees in Communication and Information Sciences on August 15, 2011. We are pleased to recognize this achievement by: Patrick Gilbert, Maureen MacLeod and Zachary Tomaszewski. Welcome, new alumni!

We are continually monitoring the effectiveness of our program structure and tuning it as needed. This year, some moderate but important changes were made after extensive discussion at the April faculty meeting, the May Executive Board meeting, and via email, and also in consultation with Graduate Division.

Sections 5.5 onwards (pertaining to scheduling and running the proposal and dissertation defenses) apply to all students. Sections 1.0 through 5.4 (pertaining to meeting requirements prerequisite to the proposal defense) apply to students entering August 2011. Students who entered previously will continue to use the rules in effect when they entered for the exam and research paper processes.

In summary, the revisions are:

CIS 699 Required While Working on Research Paper (Section 4.3):

We require students to work with faculty mentors on a research paper. The original intent was to formalize this with a CIS 699 enrollment requirement, but somehow this did not make it into last year's revision.

Both students and faculty have frequently commented on the need for students to have a stronger grounding in their chosen research method and data analysis approach, beyond what is possible to cover in the introductory CIS 703. Building this minimum requirement into the program policies helps ensure that students and advisors alike think about and plan for appropriate training. The list of acceptable courses will be broad, due to the diversity of traditions in our program.

Proposal Committee Justification Required (Section 5.5):

The CIS Executive Board will review the suitability of the committee for the proposed topic more closely than it has in the past. This is to ensure that appropriate expertise for the topic exists within the committee. To make this possible, the student must submit the proposal title, abstract, draft with references, the proposed committee, and a justification of the appropriateness of each committee member to the CIS Chair by three weeks before the proposal defense.

We hope that these adjustments provide a more productive experience for all.

Change of CIS Chair Ceremony

A Change of Chair Ceremony and reception will be from 3-4 p.m. on Thursday, August 18, 2011. The public is invited as we thank outgoing chair Professor Dan Suthers and welcome the new CIS Chair, Assistant Professor Rich Gazan.

The Chair of the Communication and Information Sciences Interdisciplinary PhD Program rotates among the four sponsoring units every three years.
This year, it changes from the Information and Computer Science Department to the Library and Information Sciences Program.

New Student Orientation

Orientation for new students in the CIS PhD Program is Thursday, August 18 from noon - 4 pm. Students are strongly encouraged to attend the morning orientation by Graduate Division and to then join us for lunch at noon. The CIS Orientation will be from 1 - 2:30 followed by the Change of Chair Ceremony. All events are in the LIS area of the Hamilton Library basement.

Congratulations to new CIS graduates

Kim Chi Diep and Laura Welsh were awarded PhD degrees in the May 2011 graduation ceremony. They join Kumiko Hachiya who received her degree in December 2010. We are proud of their accomplishment and welcome them as new alumni of the CIS program!

Thayanan Phuaphanthong Proposal Defense 05/23/11

On May 23, 1.30 - 4.30 pm, in BUSAD Room G102, Thayanan Phuaphanthong will be defending her dissertation proposal entitled: "Emergence, Evolution, and Coevolution of Interorganizational Information Systems: A Case Study of the Single Window System for Trade Facilitation"

Abstract
Interorganizational information systems (IOISs) are information and communication technology-based systems that support organizational coordination, cooperation, and collaboration across time and space.
Given that they facilitate the creation, storage, transformation, and transmission of information across organizational boundaries, they become increasingly important in today's business environment. Similar to IT artifacts, IOISs are shaped by the interests, values, and
assumptions of various communities that develop, regulate, use, and change them. Their emergence is a result of ongoing social and economic practices. Similar to other human inventions, IOISs undergo various transitions over time. Their evolution is a result of their adaptation, enhancement, and expansion to accommodate a diversity of
evolving interests, values, assumptions, cultures, and new
technologies.

A theoretical model has been developed to explain technosocial processes where different variations of a particular IOIS emerge, evolve, and coevolve with the various social institutions and communities both local and global that develop, regulate, use, and change them. The theoretical model is based on a conceptualization of
IOIS as a complex adaptive system (CAS) as well as a combination of two competing but also complementary evolutionary perspectives from Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck’s theory of acquired characteristics and inheritance and Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection.
Longitudinal data drawn from a single case of IOIS for trade and transport facilitation so-called the Single Window will be used to test the theoretical model. Longitudinal data will be collected through a review of documents and in-depth interviews. Both meme which
Dawkins (2010) defined as a unit of ideas and IOIS will be used as units of analysis.

On May 2nd Rolv Bergo defended his dissertation proposal entitled: "Using Collective Intelligence to organize information: a practical approach to harnessing expertise in a networked world"

Abstract

The exponential growth of information and high demand of experts time leads to both new challenges and opportunities in an increasingly more networked world. By using collective intelligence theories to improve knowledge management this study proposes to combine manual and automated distributed collaborative tools for retrieving, organizing and displaying information. The goals for the proposed research is to both build theory and at the same time achieve a meaningful outcome for experts using the system. Action research is the appropriate methodology to serve this dual purpose as it allows for solving immediate practical problems while expanding scientific knowledge. Potential and expected outcomes of this study are to contribute to theory building in collective intelligence and to create a useful general multi-context tool for distributed collaboration and knowledge management.

Congratulations to Patricia Jean Donohue (CIS 2009) for her recent appointment to a tenure-track position in the Department of Instructional Technology at San Francisco State University.

Her research focus is on the theoretical foundations of instructional design and emerging learning technologies. Patricia's dissertation was "Cooperative Groups in Practice: An Analysis of Affect and Productivity in Group Interactions."

Jennifer Campbell-Meier Appointed Assistant Professor at The University of Alabama

Jennifer Campbell-Meier (CIS 2008) has accepted appointment as Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama. Jennifer has served as Instructor at The School of Library & Information Studies since August 2010, teaching in the areas of information services, foundations, academic and special librarianship, and information technologies.

Jennifer's research at UH focused on Institutional Repository Development. She received both an MLS and a BA from Indiana University in Bloomington and has taught in library and information science programs at San Jose State University, the University of British Columbia, and at UH Manoa.

She also brings a wealth of practical experience in information settings to The University of Alabama program. Most recently, she served as Coordinator of Information Literacy and Distance Education at North Georgia College and State University in Dahlonega, GA. She has also held positions as Knowledge Management Coordinator, Electronic Resources Coordinator, Assistant Cataloger, and Multimedia Librarian for academic libraries in Indiana, Hawaii, and South Dakota.
Jennifer has published and presented on the topics of institutional repositories, information literacy, and information services. Over the past dozen years she has been active in community, scholarly, and professional services including library board membership, leadership on campus committees, and involvement in state library programs and library associations. She served as co-investigator on The GALILEO Knowledge Repository, a grant project funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and she continues to be involved in developing federally- and state- funded projects for The University of Alabama.

ABSTRACT:
In an interactive drama, a human player assumes the role of a character in a story. Through this character, the player interacts with objects and other characters in a virtual story world. The interactive drama system then responds to the player by making changes in that world in order to produce a well-formed story shaped by the actions of the player. Thus, an interactive drama experience is much like that of a roleplaying computer game. The difference is that, rather than providing only an open world for the player to explore or else a fairly rigid preset storyline, the story is generated at runtime in response to the player.

Marlinspike is such an interactive drama system. Its design is based on a neo-Aristotlean poetics of interactive narrative developed from the work of Aristotle, Sam Smiley (1971), Brenda Laurel (1991), and Michael Mateas (2004). Marlinspike generates a story by responding to player actions using small pre-authored story components called scenes. It selects scenes so as to narratively build upon or reincorporate earlier player actions into later story events. This serves to make player actions narratively necessary to the finished story structure.

A prototype implementation of Marlinspike was used to produce the text-based game Demeter: Blood in the Sky. Although Marlinspike's reincorporation feature did not lead to a significant difference in the experience of end users, it did produce a solid interactive drama architecture and better-formed internal story structures. With the lessons learned from the implementation process, Marlinspike provides a solid foundation for future interactive drama development.

On April 7 Laura Welsh defended her dissertation entitled: "The Effect of Espoused National Cultural Values, the Five-Factor Model of Personality, and the Context of Travel on Technology Acceptance Across Two Levels of Structured Tourism Websites"

Abstract:

According to the World Tourism Organization, there were 935 million international tourists in 2010. International tourists collectively spent $852 billion on tourism products in 2009 (World Tourism Organization, 2011). A tourist’s awareness, selection, and choice of tourism products are extremely dependent on the information used by the tourist (Bieger & Laesser, 2001; Fodness & Murray, 1997). Today, millions of tourists obtain tourism information through the Internet in a fraction of the time and inconvenience that was required in the past (Buhalis & Law, 2008). Given the worldwide economic importance of the tourism industry, it is imperative for both scholars and practitioners alike to determine what impacts the use of tourism websites, as websites are the primary source of information for travel planning and purchase of travel products.

This dissertation’s objective was to examine whether espoused national cultural values, the five-factor model of personality, or the context of travel impact the acceptance and use of tourism websites and to see if these effects varied based on differing levels of information structure on the websites. Espoused national cultural values, the five-factor model personality factors, and travel preferences addressing the context of travel all played small but significant impacts on the use of tourism websites. However, their effects are greater because the cultural, personality, and context of travel variables showed that they also indirectly affected intention to use the tourism websites through perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and subjective norms. Some of these effects varied by differing levels of information structure on city-specific and airline reservation websites examined in this study, while other effects remained constant across both levels of structured information tourism websites.

Uncertainty avoidance was also explored to see if it is a cultural or universal construct. As it had a significant but modest correlation with the universal construct of Rotter’s (1966) locus of control, this lends support to the claim that uncertainty avoidance may be a universal construct in the use of tourism websites.

A combined espoused national cultural values and five-factor model of personality theoretical model was created to better predict tourism website use than either model alone.

This study was conducted within the framework of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Davis, 1989) widely used to predict and explain IT usage. This study replicated the work of Srite and Karahanna (2006) and Devaraj, Easley, and Crant (2008) studying the effects of espoused national cultural values and the five-factor model of personality on IT usage in a different context. This study brought Alvarez and Asugman’s (2006) travel preferences addressing the context of travel from the field of tourism to the field of IS using different subjects and incorporated them into the TAM model for the first time.

Abstract: As technology innovation finds its way into increasingly diverse workplaces, the need to understand how project participants' views influence the change process has never been more pressing. Organizations are introducing technology change at an accelerated pace and increasingly diverse groups are finding themselves in uncertain territory as they attempt to collaborate on innovation that falls outside their areas of expertise in an attempt to envision and then build new and complicated technology systems for their organizations.

Researchers have begun to look to project participants and organizational members to understand how their interpretations of technology influence change processes and outcomes. Technology frames of reference (TFR) is a well-established theoretic framework used to explore how various groups interpret technology change in organizations. TFR analysis has been primarily technology-focused. Narrative and story research, on the other hand, focuses on the narrator's personal views of an experience; stories are necessarily told from the storyteller's point of view.

This study integrated the analysis of narratives with technology frames of reference to paint a richer picture of how individuals make sense of and experience information technology in their professional lives, and in this way, contributes to our understanding of sensemaking in the technology innovation process.

This qualitative case study is situated in K-12 education. Participants include teachers, technology specialists and administrators.

On Feb. 23, 2011, 10am, in Hamilton 3F, Chi Kim Diem defended her dissertation titled: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR BEST PRACTICES IN INFORMATION LITERACY INSTRUCTION BASED ON STAKEHOLDERS’ PERCEPTIONS: A CASE STUDY OF FOUR VIETNAMESE ACADEMIC LIBRARIES

Abstract

Information Literacy (IL) competencies are defined as “the ability to locate, evaluate, and use information effectively” and are considered essential for students in their academic lives and future careers (ALA, 1989). IL plays an important role in developing critical thinking and problem solving skills, and improving academic achievement through active learning, information problem solving, and evaluation of information. In Vietnam, the focus on developing student IL skills has recently received the attention of academic libraries. Vietnamese higher education has been influenced by a tightly structured subject-based model in which pedagogy relies on rote memorization and objective testing, rather than problem solving and critical thinking (Kelly, 2000). The recent shift to and implementation of a credit system requires critical changes in the curriculum and in teacher roles (Zjra, 2008).

This case study explored the perceptions of stakeholders about the development and delivery of information literacy instruction (ILI) to students at four universities, identified perceived challenges of including IL as a credit course in the curriculum, and resulted in a conceptual framework of best practices based on the findings. Concepts from change theory, learning theory, leadership theory and collaboration theory served as lenses to interpret the results.

The findings showed that IL is primarily a concern of librarians and has not yet had an impact on Vietnamese campus culture. IL activities at these four libraries mostly take the form of lectures, workshops, and modules on basic IL skills designed and delivered by instruction librarians, and attended at the discretion of students. Few ILI activities are subject discipline-related and target the information needs of students in a particular area. Assessment has been formative and provides minimal feedback to students and instruction librarians. Respondents reported challenges of including ILI as a credit course in the curriculum, including the impact of the credit system, the lasting impact of teacher-centered instruction and rote learning, misperceptions of stakeholders about the effect of IL on student learning outcomes, degree of support of academic stakeholders, degree of faculty-librarian collaboration, and scarcity of resources. The study provides ample evidence that all stakeholder groups recognize the value of ILI and support progress in the area. IL practitioners and researchers argue that instruction librarians and library administrators should be leaders in IL initiatives, and act as initiators of IL change through disseminating the mission and values of IL to the campus community.

The creation of the best practice framework comes at a propitious time for Vietnam when the government’s IT initiative, learner-centered instruction reform, a credit system, and the assessment of SLOs have become of interest to those in the educational field, ranging from ministerial leaders and campus leaders to faculty, librarians and other constituencies. What makes this study unique is, for the first time a framework of best practices of ILI for academic libraries in Vietnam was developed by synthesizing perceptions of campus stakeholders and key components of ILI that have been reviewed in the Western literature, and scarcely discussed in the literature from Vietnam. Another unique aspect is the data touch many facets of ILI and involves all related stakeholders on campus including library administrators, instruction librarians, discipline faculty, and students.

A key contribution of this research is providing a best practice framework that validates the body of literature on IL in the West showing that no matter what one’s social, cultural, or educational background, the IL-related concepts are universally agreed upon and relevant to developing critical thinking about information. This study has the potential to provide crucial information to library administrators and librarians in academic libraries in Vietnam providing a better understanding of the potential and challenges of implementing ILI programs. In addition, the findings will be useful for decision makers in colleges and universities in issuing appropriate policies related to the adoption and implementation of IL in the academic environment in Vietnam.

On Feb. 07, 2011, 1pm, in Schidler College of Business, Room D204, Patrick Gilbert defended his dissertation titled:
A DELPHI POLICY STUDY ON THE FUTURES USE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION WITHIN THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAIʻI SYSTEM

Synopsis: Technology is clawing its way into nearly all organizations and higher education is not exempt. Advocacy organizations press for change to reduce costs, broaden delivery, and equalize access to those who are often denied due to financial, cultural, or geographic limitations. Change agents within the organization advocate for increased technology to deliver instruction. The question for an organization is not that technology is going to change higher education. Two choices seem to remain for futures work – what will the shape of the organization be (predict parameters) or what do the members of the organization want the organization to be. When dealing with futures work, absent formal models of the future, the only alternative is gathering of expert data. Delphi is a recognized tool for gathering expert thought. Recently, thought leaders proposed modifications to broaden the definition of expertise to stakeholders. This project developed a web based implementation of Delphi where functionality demands come from the literature. The data was collected in Fall 2010. Some interesting policy recommendations appeared. Additionally, the research lead to a considerable number of possibilities for future research.

Library and Information Science Graduate Program Among Top Ten

For the fourth consecutive year, the school library media specialization in the UH Mānoa Library and Information Science (LIS) Graduate Program has been recognized as one of the top ten programs in the nation by the U.S. News and World Report in its “America’s Best Graduate Schools 2011.” It was ranked eighth in the top ten. U.S. News and World Report analyzes more than 12,000 different graduate program areas for this special report. Rankings are based on expert opinions regarding program quality and statistical indicators that measure the quality of the faculty, research, and students.

The LIS Program is a master’s program in the UH Mānoa College of Natural Sciences, Department of Information and Computer Sciences. Dean Alan Teramura commented: “The LIS faculty have continued to maintain a high quality program for many years. Their peers acknowledged this during the program’s last accreditation review, when it was granted the maximum six years. I am pleased to learn that they have been selected for the fourth year in a row among the elite school library media specializations in the nation by the U.S. News and World Report.”

The graduates of the LIS Program make up 85% of the Hawaiʻi DOE’s school library workforce. Several of them have received national recognition. In 2007, Kapolei High School Library led by Carolyn Kirio and Sandy Yamamoto was cited as the National School Library Media Program of the Year by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL). This year, Kailua Elementary Library was selected as one of 35 exemplary programs across the nation by the AASL and librarian Darren Tanaka was commended for his innovative approaches to learning.

In 2009, the LIS Program received a $250,000 federal grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to design and implement training for teams of high school teachers and librarians working on capstone research projects with their students. This three-year grant enables the Program to support the state’s P-20 initiative.

For more information on the U.S. News and World Report rankings of America's Best Graduate Schools, visit: www.usnews.com/grad.

The CIS program office will be closed November 25 and 26, and December 20-31, along with all campus offices. Click on this story to see the official university statement.

In accordance with collective bargaining agreements and to recover energy savings to meet the budget shortfall, the University of Hawaii's 10 campuses will be closed to the public during the following non-instructional days:
- November 26, 2010
- December 20-31, 2010

November 25 (Thanksgiving), December 24 (Christmas) and December 31 (New Year's) are state holidays and all offices will be closed on those days.

Certain critical or time sensitive functions or specialized facilities, such as laboratories, may continue to operate. Athletic events at UH Manoa and UH Hilo will also be held as scheduled.

More details and specific information on how the closures may affect individual campus functions and activities are available online at http://www.hawaii.edu/news/closures.html

ARTICLE BY CIS GRADUATE YUKAWA AMONG LIRT’S TOP 20

Joyce Yukawa, who earned her Ph.D. in Communication and Information Sciences, has written an article selected by the American Library Association’s Library Instruction Round Table (LIRT) as one of the “Top 20” articles in library instruction published in 2009.

The article entitled, “Librarian-Teacher Partnerships for Inquiry Learning: Measures of Effectiveness for a Practice-Based Model of Professional Development,” originally appeared in Evidence Based Library & Information Practice. The committee read and evaluated over 200 articles published in 2009 as part of the selection process.

Yukawa is currently an assistant professor in the Library and Information Science Graduate Program at the College of St. Catherine in Minnesota. Violet Harada, professor in the UHM Library and Information Science Program, was co-author of the article.

The proposed study aims to employ studio-based learning (SBL) techniques to enhance an online Computer Science 1 (CS1) course. Within the process of SBL implementation, this study is expected to shed light on how the different components of SBL differ from the traditional face-to-face implementation of a purely online approach. The project will closely follow the CPATH SBL (SBL and Project 2010-2013) methodology for its implementation so that the results will be comparable to those obtained in previous studies by the SBL-CPATH team. The results of the proposed virtual SBL implementation will also be compared to an identical online course (control group).

Considering the proven benefits of studio-based learning (SBL Project 2010-2013), together with the specific challenges faced by novice programmers and online courses, it calls for the adaptation of SBL techniques in online computer science courses, as well as for a closer look into how students interact during these sessions. The recording of student interaction during the SBL sessions will allow for deeper insight into the causes of SBL effectiveness.

For the proposed study, common programming errors and misconceptions have been identified from work submitted by students in four previous semesters of Computer Science 1, (known at the University of Hawaii as “ICS111-Introduction to Computer Science I”). Those errors and misconceptions will be the basis for the creation of specific assignments and Virtual Studio-Based Learning sessions tailored precisely to target those problematic learning areas. The underlying purpose is to compare the processes and outcomes of SBL implementation in different teaching environments.

The ICS111 course introduces students to the Java programming language. It is delivered via broadcast television, in conjunction with online support components. The same course structure was used in the four semesters preceding this study, the period of time when the error data was collected. Online course delivery as well as computer-mediated communication (CMC) student interaction will reveal specific advantages and disadvantages, which will present themselves in the practices as the semester progresses.

On May 7, 11:30am, in POST 302, Lisa Yoda will be defending her proposal entitled "Towards an understanding of college women's decision-making regarding the HPV vaccine"

Towards an understanding of college women's decision-making regarding the HPV vaccine

Cervical cancer is one of the most common cancers in women causing significant morbidity and mortality. In the U.S., according to the American Cancer Society’s reports, there will be an estimated 11,270 new cases of cervical cancer in 2009 and 4,070 women will die from it. Globally it is the 2nd most common cancer in women affecting 555,100 each year and the 3rd leading cause of cancer death. We now know that Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection is a necessary cause of cervical cancer and in 2006, the first quadrivalent HPV vaccine protecting against 4 types of HPV that include two most high risk (oncogenic) HPV types (16 & 18) and two types (6 & 11) causing genital warts was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use with young women. HPV is one of the most common sexually transmitted infection in both men and women and according to the national study conducted on female samples aged 14 - 59 (Dunne et al., 2007), overall 26.8% tested positive and women aged 20-24 had the highest prevalence rate of infection (44.8%). While most of the cases, HPV infection will clear by itself, persistent infection with high-risk types of HPV may lead to precancerous lesions and if left untreated, subsequent development of cervical cancer. This study will explore health behavioral factors related to college women’s HPV vaccine decision-making utilizing multiple theories, more specifically the study will look at their HPV related knowledge, risk perceptions, affect and attitudes towards HPV vaccination, and perceived barriers, benefits and self-efficacy. The goal of this study is then to find out how these factors - some of them never been tested for HPV vaccine uptake behavior - act as barriers or facilitators and what their strengths might be in terms of predicting college women’s decision to adopt protective behavior. The self-administered anonymous online survey will be used to collect 400 responses. The findings will be used to suggest practical recommendations to improve cervical cancer risk reduction intervention strategies.

Kathleen Kihmm Proposal Defense 04/30

Friday, 30 April at 10am in POST 302 Kathleen Kihmm Connolly will be defending her dissertation proposal entitled "Behavior Change in Type 2 Diabetic Patients Following Retinal Imaging as Described by the Transtheoretical Model"

Introduction
Diabetes is a serious health problem in the United States, an estimated 23.6 million children and adults have the disease; 5.7 million of who are unaware of their condition. Diabetic eye disease, which affects both type 1 and type 2 diabetic patients, includes diabetic retinopathy (DR), cataracts and glaucoma. The most common occurrence of the three is diabetic retinopathy, which affects 40–45% of all those diagnosed with diabetes. DR is the leading cause of adult blindness in the United States and has shown to be present in nearly all people diagnosed with diabetes for a duration of more than 20 years. Eye examinations, which are the standard of care for diabetic patients, can detect the disease in its early stages. Despite that yearly eye exams are recommended for all those diagnosed with diabetes, the primary reason for vision loss due to DR is the failure to have regular eye examinations. Only 50-60% of diabetic patients actually have eye exams performed. The development of high resolution non-mydriatic (no eye dilation needed) fundus (back of the eye, includes retina optic disc, macula, etc…) digital cameras has the potential to facilitate better access to eye care through remote evaluations (teleretinal imaging) and more comfort to the patient.
Purpose
The purpose of this proposal is to use the transtheoretical model to describe changes in behavior with a type 2 diabetic population when shown their digital retinal images and given access to a personal health portal (PHP) website. The PHP allows the patients to remotely view their retinal images and other related diabetic eye disease information on their own time.
Methods
This study will utilize a quasi-experimental interrupted time-series design, in which a pre/post/post-post survey model will be implemented. Due to the validity of survey items; this proposal will be focusing on daily self-management, exercise, smoking, carbohydrate counting, healthy eating and glucose measuring for patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. In addition to the surveys, other variables collected from the patient’s electronic medical record will include the patients HbA1c, lipids, blood pressure, body mass index, and level of retinopathy. Demographic data will also be obtained to examine trends, averages and variances in the participant population. Participants will be recruited from the Primary Care Clinic of the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center. A total of 213 participants will be recruited for this study.
Analysis
The main analysis will be a repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). The study design is a 3 (behavior) x 3 (time point) factorial. The analysis is a within-subject repeated measure (baseline, 1 month, 3 month surveys). If there are significant differences in the MANOVA analysis performed (p < 0.05 significance level), a post-hoc Sheffé test will be used to conduct pairwise comparisons between means to test significant main and interaction effects between dependent variables. Means, standard deviations, frequencies, proportions, and graphical displays will be computed for all study variables. In addition, plots of longitudinally measured variables will be constructed to understand their general trends over the study period, and a descriptive cross-sectional comparison will be charted for the stage of change and decisional balance (pros and cons) variables.

David Lassner received his Ph.D. in communication and information sciences from UH Mānoa in 1998. He is one of four honorees receiving the 2010 Distinguished Alumni Awards from the The University of Hawai'i Alumni Association on May 11.

Currently vice president for information technology and chief information officer for the UH System, Lassner has worked at UH since 1977 in a variety of technical and management positions, culminating in his service creating and leading UH's first integrated system-wide information technology support organization.

A dinner will be held to honor this year's recipients on Tues., May 11, at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel. To reserve seats for the event, visit www.UHalumni.org.

Established in 1987, the Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes outstanding alumni who have used their UH education to excel professionally, provide inspirational leadership to others, and provide service for the benefit of the community.

Alex Chen Proposal Defense 4/9

On Friday, April 9th from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 in room 302 of POST Jeng-Her (Alex) Chen will be defending his dissertation proposal entitled "Personal Factors and the Efficiency of Web Information Searching"

Abstract

In an age where search engines are ubiquitous most people expect their everyday Web searches to be fast and effective despite time limitations. This study looks at problem-solving in searching in terms of both self-efficacy and information-processing theory. It asks the question: How do self-efficacy and two related factors (psychological confidence and search skill) affect timely successful Web information searching? In addition, an individual’s problem space has been identified as important in problem solving. A problem space is a person’s inner representation of the task after extracting critical components in the external problem task. This study probes whether there are different problem spaces for efficient and inefficient Web information searchers. These questions will be answered quantitatively using survival analysis, TRICIR (for circular triads), and ANOVA.

On May 12, from 1pm to 3pm, in Crawford Hall Room 322 Kumiko Hachiya will be defending her dissertation entitled "Mobile Phones and Older Japanese Adults."

Abstract

This qualitative research investigates the meaning of keitai (mobile phone) for older Japanese adults between ages of 59 to 79. Participants’ emails from keitai, handwritten daily logs, and audio and video recordings from meetings and interviews were collected during my 7-8 months stay in one of the largest cities in Japan. Latour’s Actor-Network-Theory, Garfinkel’s ethnomethodology, the process theories of A. N. Whitehead and Kitaro Nishida, and “embodied interaction” of Paul Dourish were used for data analysis. All these theorists take similar, nonpositivist positions that support the phenomenologist or constructivist view that social reality is mutually constructed.

The aging of Japan’s population is advancing as Japanese baby boomers are getting older and the birthrate is low, and the government is concerned about how to bear the financial burden of increased pension payments and increasing medical costs for aging retirees with a much smaller work force as a tax base. The government has been building a high-speed broadband infrastructure since 2000 to stream-line its services through Internet; the majority of the aging population is not on-line.

In the backdrop of this situation, Internet access via keitai started in 1999 and took the youth by storm as Internet access from PC was not generally available; however, people over 65 years were not a part of this.

The participants were busy but enthusiastic about learning digital technologies. When they started to use keitai, they moved into a different world. Keitai bridges them to the world with younger generations, creates new interactions with existing close relations, and expands digital expressions by connecting keitai’s data-capturing capabilities to a PC or Internet. For young people keitai is no longer a telephone but a media tool and expressed with westernized katakana, ケータイ, which suggests something modern and foreign. Translating other culture’s tools to one’s own cultural understanding takes time and the participation of co-members from one’s own culture. If this translation is done well, perhaps, the feeling of troublesomeness associated with new communication technology such as keitai can be overcome among older population.

On Wednesday, March 10 from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 in room 322 of Crawford Hall Louis Tomsic will be defending his dissertation entitled "Effectiveness of Blog Response Strategies to minimize Crisis Effects"

Abstract:

This study examined the effects of four post-crisis responses on five different variables using a blog tool. The four post-crisis responses are (a) information only, (b) compensation, (c) apology, and (d) sympathy. The five dependent variables are reputation, anger (negative emotion), negative word of mouth, account acceptance and state of the publics based on involvement and knowledge.

Coombs and Holladay’s (2002; Coombs 2007) situational crisis communication theory suggests that the effects of a crisis can be minimized by formulating an appropriate response to the public following a crisis.

Furthermore, Hallahan’s (2001) five-publics model is used to categorize the participants into active, aroused, aware, inactive and non-publics. In the experimental study, participants were active by scoring fifty percent or higher on a knowledge test to show high knowledge and responding to a crisis blog to show high involvement for the given crisis.

This study found sympathy protected the organization’s reputation, lowered negative word of mouth and raised account acceptance when minimal attributions of crisis responsibility and a moderate reputation threat existed. It was the best crisis response to give when compared to information only. Furthermore, a crisis response is better than no response for lowering the segment of participants in the active public.

On Friday, Mach 5 from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 in room 322 of Crawford Hall Hanae Kurihara Kramer will be defending her dissertation entitled "Marketing a Nation: The Role of Film in Manchoukuo."

Abstract:

In the spring of 1932 the state of Manchoukuo was born. Its figurehead, Henry P’u-Yi, the last emperor of China dethroned in 1911, lent the state a feeling of historical continuity. Its borders roughly corresponded to those controlled by the Manchu tribes of the early seventeenth century, and like the tribes of old was separated from China by the Great Wall. It was billed by Japan as an independent country. Yet, from the moment of inauguration it was derided as “the puppet state” or “occupied Manchuria” by many governments. Neither position captured the unvarnished truth, which lay somewhere between the propaganda and contemptuous mirth. It was not a true country for sure, but it was never an extension of Tokyo either. Many of the strings of power never left the continent. Manchoukuo was a state born out of compromise, the child of competing interests: Tokyo, the South Manchuria Railway Company (SMR), and the Kwantung Army. These interests, as well as others, found that they could co-exist within the framework of a polity that was completely separate from China and comfortably distant from Japan. Much of the scholarship to date, however, views Manchoukuo merely as a constituent part of Japan's imperialistic enterprise. Manchoukuo, therefore, is seldom studied on its own terms.

In the 1930s, a motley crew of Japanese thinkers were tasked to create a country from scratch. The challenges before them were great since continental East Asia was in a state of chaos. Furthermore, it was a land of many peoples, none of whom the Japanese had any sort of camaraderie with. As a group, these thinkers agreed that their tool of choice for state-building was to be mass media. Since illiteracy is an effective defense against the printed word, radio and film became the brick and mortar of the Manchoukuo propaganda machine. Slogans such as minzoku kyōwa (concord of races) and Wang-tao (prosperity through beneficent rule) sought to foster a sense of unity and obedience. The belief that a viable state would emerge from the ether, enticed out by words and images, was a strong one. Using historical and descriptive analyses, this dissertation studies film and related documents to gain insight into the Manchoukuo government's attitudes towards media as well as their policies.

Congratulations to Laurel King and Dan Smith, who have completed their Communication and Information Science PhD degrees. Both degrees were conferred as part of the December University of Hawai‘i graduation ceremonies.

UH campus closure

Many campus offices will be closed from December 19 (Saturday) through January 3 (Sunday). The CIS office will be closed during this time. Please check the UH-Mānoa website for availability of other offices. Look for the "Green Days" link.

A leader and “scholar who learns with and from her student,” Rebecca Knuth, a tenured professor in the Library and Information Science Program (LIS) at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, is the 2009 recipient of the Library Journal Teaching Award.

The award, co-sponsored by ProQuest, recognizes one outstanding educator who excels at educating the next generation of librarians. Knuth is notable for her ongoing engagement with and mentorship of her students and her commitment to the profession’s core principles through course development and scholarly research. Nominated by her students, Knuth was selected by the editors of Library Journal, the profession’s leading trade magazine, from a competitive group of nominations from across the United States.

Knuth began her work at UH Manoa 2004 as chair of the LIS program, part of UH Mānoa's Department of Information and Computer Science. Her professional accomplishments at the university include building courses in the LIS program and creating its popular elective course in intellectual freedom, a topic on which much of her research focuses. She teaches courses in Traditional Literature and Oral Narration, International Librarianship, and Information Policy. Knuth holds an MA in Special Education and an MLIS. She has authored two books on intellectual freedom and libraries, as well as peer-reviewed scholarly articles and more popular writings.

It is the meaningful content used in her classrooms, her educator-as-learner approach, and her student-centered thinking that prompted LIS student Karen Brown to nominate Knuth for the honor. “Not only is the subject matter fascinating and relevant, but Dr. Knuth seems to enjoy her time with us in each and every class,” says Brown.

Knuth credits much of her success to crafting a syllabus that provokes thought and discussion. “I try to build excitement about librarianship and learning in general. I think many students are interested in ethics, social responsibility, the profession, the broader social climate, and in standing for something,” Knuth says.

“Rebecca Knuth is an inspirational teacher,” noted Library Journal’s Editor-in-Chief Francine Fialkoff. “Her student-centered thinking marries theory and practice to create a challenging environment that pushes both her students and her own research.”

The award comes with a $5000 honorarium from ProQuest and a celebration at the 2010 American Library Association Midwinter meeting in Boston. Read about Knuth in the November 15 issue of Library Journal (www.libraryjournal.com).

[UH-Manoa news release]

Apply early!

All prospective students are encouraged to apply by January 15, 2010. Applications received during February may experience delays in processing due to an upgrade that affects graduate admissions. CIS PhD Application Deadlines (Fall 2010)

We contratulate CIS PhD Students with recent publications: Caterina Desiato, Thayanan Phuaphanthong, Lisa Yoda, and Zach Tomaszewski. Click this article headline for the full citations of their articles on cyberworlds, an E-government project, the impact of mixed survey modes on personal health, and the Marlinspike Interactive Drama System.

ABSTRACT:
Understanding the user and customizing the interface to augment cognition and usability are goals of human computer interaction research and design. Yet, little is known about the influence of individual visual-verbal information presentation preferences on visual navigation and screen element usage. If consistent differences in visual navigation can be detected and measured, these differences could be used to augment cognition or customize views appropriately as eye tracking and other monitoring devices improve. This dissertation research investigates: (1) the relationship between the measured visual-verbal preferences and the participant’s eye movements during different types of problem-solving tasks; (2) performance on text, text plus diagram, diagrammatic reasoning problems and selection of problem representation; and (3) whether different levels of cognitive load are observed in eye movement patterns while solving reasoning problems of differing difficulty.

A visual-verbal preference questionnaire adapted from several established instruments was administered to 140 university students in a variety of fields. The responses to this questionnaire were analyzed to understand overall tendencies toward visual and verbal preferences by field of study, gender and other factors. Twelve participants (six verbal and six visual, balanced by gender) were recruited from those scoring in the extreme 20% of the pool, either more visual than verbal or more verbal than visual, to complete an eye tracking experiment. Each participant completed 3 practice problems and 15 reasoning problem tasks (6 text-plus-diagram, 6 text-only, and six diagram-only).

The results showed a strong trend for the verbal group to perform better on problems with diagrams than without, while the visual group only performed slightly better with a diagram. The visual group performed better than the verbal group on the text-only and diagram-only problems. The visual group spent more time on blank areas of the screen than the verbal, possibly indicating internal visualization. Different strategies were found between the two groups and among individuals. These differences are analyzed in terms of one’s awareness of their visual processing and the importance of specific task requirements. The results are important to the use and customization of representations in interface design, education, marketing and diagrammatic communication for problem solving.

Paper copies are also available if you have an opportunity for posting or distributing in person. Contact Cindy at the CIS office for copies.

Talk: Getting into Data Management Research

Continuing our series of combined ICS and CIS research seminars, this week (POST 127, Thursday 9/17 at 4:30 PM) we will hear from a new ICS faculty member, Lipyeow Lim. His talk on "Getting into Data Management Research" will paint with broad strokes the data management research community, the major topic areas and the relevant conferences; and then outline three topics that he is particularly interested in, namely, ontologies, real-time data warehousing, and multi-core data processing.

The data management field has become increasingly inter-disciplinary over the past several years. Dr Lim hopes that this talk will help you to draw connections between your work and the data management field, and encourage you to contribute to this broad and exciting field.

Dr Lim's research lies in the data management area and includes database query optimization, statistics and selectivity estimation, XML databases, stream processing, data warehousing, ontologies and semantic queries. See http://www2.hawaii.edu/~lipyeow/ for more about Dr. Lim.

This research will investigate the results of an applied research experience conducted with a group of undergraduate students of various majors in higher education. The research aims to surpass pedagogical deficiencies in large course formats, making use of the lecture podcasting technique, through which two supporting interventions can occur: course content review can be promoted through structured podcasts and active learning episodes can enter the classroom. In this research, the constructivist
learning theory is used to inform technology- rich teaching
practices and support a more active teaching ecology. The results will be analyzed for improvements in review activity, student perceptions of learning and student learning outcomes.

The purpose of this qualitative case study is to explore views of different stakeholders concerning the current implementation of information literacy instruction (ILI) programs, and to identify the components of the best practices of teaching information literacy skills to undergraduate students in academic libraries in Vietnam.

This study will provide crucial information for the library administrators and librarians in academic libraries in Vietnam concerning a better understanding of the views, and challenges when implementing the ILI programs. This study will also support IL development programs, and to propose a framework for best practices to help academic libraries in Vietnam develop, assess and improve ILI programs. Lastly, it will be also useful for decision makers in colleges and universities in issuing appropriate policies related to the adoption and implementation of IL in academic environment in Vietnam.

This case study will employ both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection and analyses, including surveys, focus groups, interviews, and document analysis. The participants include library administrators, instruction librarians, faculty and students of four regional universities in Vietnam. A qualitative case study approach with embedded quantitative descriptive data will be used to provide an intensive account of the current implementation of the IL programs perceived by library administrators, instruction librarians, faculty and students, identify major challenges to implementing it, and propose the best practices to ILI programs at four public universities in Vietnam including Cantho University (CTU), Danang University (DNU), Hue University and Thai Nguyen University (TNU).

The newsletter is being mailed to alumni this week. Current students and friends of the CIS program are invited to read the electronic version. If you would like a print copy, contact the CIS program offices.

Biomedical Informatics becomes regular focus area

Until recently, Biomedical Informatics has been offered as a "special" focus area with a secondary exam. Due to student demand in this emerging interdisciplinary field, the CIS Executive Board has approved promotion of Biomedical Informatics to full status as a CIS focus area, in which both primary and secondary exams will be offered.

Biomedical Informatics, an emerging new interdisciplinary field, is comprised of Bioinformatics (which finds itself at the intersection of Biology and Computer Science and includes Genomics, Proteomics and related fields), and Medical Informatics (which finds itself at the intersection of Medicine, Public Health and Computer Science). The domain of biomedical informatics intersects frequently with concepts from the information sciences, computer sciences, information technology management, biology, clinical sciences, healthcare delivery, health finance, health economics, communications sciences, public health and epidemiology, nursing, and so on. That is, biomedical informatics is a broad, multi-disciplinary field that encompasses key areas of the Communications and Information Sciences Ph.D. program.

Development and use of Biomedical Informatics techniques and technologies has the potential to improve access, equity, efficiency and quality of healthcare delivery and to support action on global challenges, but effective deployment and use remains elusive. This faltering success to-date is often attributed to the lack of knowledgeable, well-trained and focused professionals in the field. The growing demand for and complexity of health services and the important role that communication and information systems play in healthcare delivery increases the demand for professionals, managers, instructional faculty, and researchers who are knowledgeable about the intersection of healthcare delivery, health information and information technology applications for healthcare.

Biomedical Informatics replaces Computer Software Systems, an area that has been underutilized since the creation of the Computer Science PhD program in the Department of Information and Computer Sciences.

CIS Dissertation: Of Terrorists, Tyrants, And Social Turmoil

Donna Bair-Mundy successfully defended her dissertation "Of Terrorists, Tyrants, And Social Turmoil: A Competing-Fears Theoretical Model For The Evolution Of Law Relating To Telecommunication Privacy Vis-À-Vis Law Enforcement Surveillance In America" on June 8th. Her chair is Dr. Knuth. Click for the abstract and dissertation committee.

The task of this dissertation has been to construct a theoretical model for the development of laws relating to telecommunication privacy vis-à-vis law enforcement surveillance over the past hundred years. Both statutory and case laws relating to telecommunication privacy were examined, as well as the historical context of such legislation and rulings.

The model presented draws upon the work of legal theorists such as Thomas Cooley, Roscoe Pound, H.L.A. Hart, R.M. Dworkin, William Banks, M.E. Bowman, and Marc Rotenberg; surveillance theorists such as Michel Foucault, Anthony Giddens, and David Lyons; and privacy theorists such as Alan Westin, Irwin Altman, and Sandra Petronio. It focuses on three competing fears: fear of external threat, fear of social chaos, and fear of the tyrant. Shifts in emphasis among these three fears throw the nation into periods of boundary turbulence. This boundary turbulence requires re-negotiation of privacy boundaries. This re-negotiation has happened repeatedly during U.S. history.

The model presented was then tested in a case study that examined the inception, debate, and passage of the USA PATRIOT Act.

Daniel C. Smith successfully defended his PhD dissertation: Social Media Correlates of Organizational Climate. He found that management should encourage employees who feel comfortable with social media – blogs, social networks, etc. – to use them in moderate amounts at work according to this research. They likely will trust top management more – in addition to other benefits to themselves and your company.

While opinions were divided, employees tended to be more trusting of coworkers and top management if they had used a variety of social media recently at work. They were also higher on other organizational climate measures of cooperation and information sharing. The results are correlational; they represent associations so one cannot claim the relationships to be causal. However there was a modest, statistically significant correlation of the favorable organizational climate with the years since the company encouraged use of social media.

Employees who had some social media use were more likely to recognize the potential benefits from social media to build social capital in conjunction with work. They recognized the informational and affect values of social media to strengthen ties in the work group and to build new ties outside the immediate group and the company.

The research gathered data from a sample of 235 employees from a national pool on their social media practices and the social media policies of their employers. It investigated how social media added to a model of organizational climate that promotes knowledge sharing and cooperation, and trust in peers and management. The research integrated theories of social capital, trust, organizational climate, and knowledge sharing to test claims that social media add value to firms in social dimensions above and beyond knowledge sharing. Statistically significant associations of social media use were found with trustworthiness of employees and management, cooperation, and knowledge sharing. A hypothesis that social media use would fit a specific model incorporating organizational climate and knowledge sharing and combination was not supported. Modest associations were shown by multiple regression. The dominant effect of trust both of coworkers and management in organizational climate was reaffirmed.

The sample of respondents came from a wide range of industries and not specifically from social media-active firms so the findings may be robust. The research replicated a commitment-based HR theory linked to increased productivity. It extended the theory by adding trust in top management and social media use.

Some evidence was found that the length of time in years that an organization has had social media correlates with better organizational climate ratings. Moreover, stronger correlations were found for trust in coworkers and trust in management with more recent social media actions.

Employees also tended to use social media for work related matters more at home than on the job. Furthermore in the study sample in relation to work there was a strong plurality for Facebook compared to other social media sites.

Miwa Yamazaki successfully defended her dissertation entitled "The Effect of Message Framing on Attitudes and Intentions Toward Diabetes Mellitus Type II Prevention".
Healthcare marketers have continuously battled for solving a conundrum regarding how to frame the effective disease prevention messages that help empower consumers to obtain a healthier lifestyle. However, they have not yet examined the effect of message framing on Diabetes Mellitus Type II (DM2) prevention.

This dissertation, therefore, investigated (1) the effect of message framing (advantages of preventing DM2 vs. consequences of ignoring DM2 prevention) on people’s attitude toward the message and their instantaneous intentions toward DM2 prevention; (2) people who have not yet developed diabetes, thus examining the effect of message framing on DM2 prevention, rather than on DM2 complication (e.g., blindness) prevention; (3) the effect of messages that highlighted why, rather than how (e.g., regular exercise, healthy diet), to prevent DM2 emphasizing sex-related consequences; and (4) potential gender differences in terms of subjects’ attitudes and intentions when the messages targeted their own versus the opposite gender.

Results revealed that, contrary to what was predicted, the message that highlighted consequences of ignoring DM2 prevention, such as having sexual dysfunction or risky pregnancies, was more effective than the message that highlighted advantages of preventing DM2 in eliciting subjects’ positive attitudes toward the message and their greater intentions to prevent DM2. Similar findings hold true, but were also unexpected, in an opposite-gender message condition. Moreover, female versus male subjects had significantly more positive attitudes and greater intentions, irrespective of the message framing particularly in the same-gender message condition. Ex post analyses revealed that fear mediated the relationship between message type and subjects’ attitudes and intentions.

The findings provide several implications for healthcare marketers regarding promoting DM2 prevention. Specifically, a positively-framed message is not always an effective way to communicate disease prevention. Instead, healthcare marketers may consider using the messages that focus on sex-related negative consequences and that arouse fear in DM2 prevention. Furthermore, identifying the message audience remains important in DM2 prevention; in particular, promoting the message that targets their own gender is effective.

Marc Le Pape defended his dissertation, "Human-Computer Interaction in Extreme Environments: Interaction Effects Between Field Dependency-Independency and Altered Gz Accelerations on End-User Performance" on January 29, 2009. For a flavor of what was involved in this rather unusual and ambitious study, see this You Tube video. For the abstract and committee, open this story.

Abstract: Failure to address extreme environments constraints at the human-computer interaction level may lead to the commission of critical and potentially fatal errors. This dissertation addresses gaps in our current theoretical understanding of the combined impact of an extreme environment stressor and perceptual style on task performance in human-computer interaction. A controlled experimental study investigates the effects of altered Gz accelerations and field dependency independency on human performance in the completion of perceptual-motor tasks on a personal digital assistant (PDA). Results of the experiment, conducted in an aerobatic aircraft at multiple Gz acceleration levels, show that in altered Gz environments perceptual style significantly impacts perceptual-motor task performance in target acquisition. Based on the results, the argument is made that acknowledging individual cognitive differences in design, will help end-users in extreme environments execute perceptual-motor tasks efficiently, without unnecessarily increasing cognitive load and the probability of critical errors. Design guidelines are proposed towards this end.

On January 15th, Dr. Ricki Goldman (Associate Professor of Educational Communication and Technology, New York University) presented 10 mindful learning activities and seven design in-sites learned from her twenty years designing video research technologies for computer-supported collaborative research. She discussed how the Points of Viewing theory can be used as a framework for designing learning tools and methods to address the crisis facing education in the 21st Century, and how it can merge individual learning within communities of practice.

The points of viewing theory (POVT) of learning is a theory about how the interpretive actions of participants overlap and intersect. To embrace how these points of viewing converge (and diverge) leads to a deeper understanding of not only the event and a video event, but also the actual physical and the recorded context of the topic under investigation. POVT has at its heart the intersecting perspectives of all participants with a stake in the community.

POVT also overcomes the static, isolating, individualized approach to point of view, in favor of the dynamic tension that operates among points of viewing--points that generate intersecting sight-lines, enabling people to catch sight of each other, as interpreters, even as they project their own point of view.

The perspectivity methodological framework (Goldman and Maxwell, 2002) for research in CSCL maintains that advanced video technologies offer a larger range of possible interpretations on what occurred in a given setting, knowing that every stakeholder has a different viewing of the event -- a viewing that affects changes in perception as the video is shared, annotated, and put into new configurations within social networks.

The question is this: How can the POV-ing theory be used as a framework for designing learning tools and methods to address the crisis facing education in the 21st Century? How can it merge individual learning within communities of practice?

In this talk, Dr. Ricki Goldman will propose 10 mindful learning activities and seven design in-sites learned from her twenty years designing video research technologies for computer-supported collaborative research.

Dr. Ricki Goldman -- media and learning theorist, digital video ethnographer, and software inventor -- is Associate Professor and Co-Director of the CREATE Lab at NYU. Her research interests focus on student learning in technology-rich learning environments, "quisitive" research methods, and the design of an online tool for video data analysis. Recently Goldman is exploring how video technologies lie at the interstices of social networking and social justice issues.

Congratulations to Claire Ikumi Hitosugi, who successfully defended her dissertation, "Effects of Culture on Online Initial Trust: Individual Level Analysis" on December 5th, 2008. Her chair is Dr. Reums. Click for the abstract and dissertation committee.

Abstract: This is an exploratory work on the relationship between online initial trust and culture. Little work has been done on how culture influences one’s online trust perceptions. In IS research, culture is mostly studied either at the national or at the organizational level. This study captures culture at the individual level on a website. Four culture dimensions (masculinity/femininity, individualism/collectivism, power distance and uncertainty avoidance) proposed by Hofstede (1980) are investigated. The McKnight et al. trust model (2002) is used as the basis of this study. Subjective norm (SN) is also integrated in the trust and culture model. Structural equation modeling was used in the model analysis.

First, the initial online trust model of McKnight et al. was successfully replicated in a tourism context. Then, the McKnight et al. trust model was augmented by subjective norm. I propose from the ‘Theory of Reasoned Action’ (Fishbein and Ajzen 1975) that SN is a critical variable in trust formation and trust intention. My data showed that SN directly impacted all four trust constructs (disposition to trust, institutional trust, trusting beliefs, and intention to trust). Furthermore, SN is found to be a positive covariate of all culture variables; thus, all culture variables indirectly affect trust formation and intention through SN. Two culture dimensions (power distance and uncertainty avoidance) also directly affected three trust constructs, but not intention to trust. The dimensions of masculinity/femininity and individualism/collectivism had no direct effects on trust formation.

My results showed that SN, in particular peer perception, has the most significant effects on initial online trust formation. Furthermore, a person high in uncertainty avoidance (UA) has the strongest association with SN. Thus, not only does s/he take cues from others more, but also has a more trusting disposition and forms trusting beliefs more easily than a person low in UA.

The unequivocal properties of the UA construct were also discussed. Two types of UA are proposed; "UA need for structure" and "UA need for avoiding uncertainty". The UA construct that the most literature refers to is analyzed as "UA need for structure". Further investigation of UA construct is suggested.

Jennifer Campbell-Meier successfully defended her dissertation, "Case Studies on Institutional Repository Development: Creating Narratives for Project Management and Assessment" on October 10th, 2008. Her chair is Dr. Knuth. Click here for the abstract and committee.

Abstract: The development of an institutional repository (IR) is one of the more complex projects that librarians may undertake. While many librarians have managed large information system projects, IR projects involve a larger stakeholder group and require support from technical services, public services and administration to succeed. A significant increase in the development of repositories is expected with technology and process improvements for digital collection development. This study investigated the development of repositories at doctoral institutions, identifying factors that influence development and best practices using a comparative case study analysis approach to gather and analyze data. A detailed account and analysis of academic institutional repositories was formed providing knowledge of individual IR development as well as a cross case comparison of developmental factors including adoption, motivating factors and perceived benefits. The use of a narrative, project management practices beyond technical development, and the inclusion of the campus community are identified as key factors in development. Best practices and recommendations for future developers, such as early involvement of stakeholder groups and the need to educate both librarians and faculty about open access collections are also discussed. This study contributes to a more informed understanding of the development of IRs and identifies a model framework for future IR developers.

The School of Accountancy and the Department of Information
Technology Management would like to invite you to two seminars by Dr. Herman Mauer, of the Graz University of Technology on Wednesday, November 12.

The first (Google, Friend or Enemy) is 12-1:30 in PwC Conference room (G-301), Shidler College of Business.

The second (How to minimize the effects of a potential breakdown of networks) is in A301 at 3-4:30, in conjunction with the ITM704 Research Seminar.

Google - Friend or enemy?
In this presentation I show how all-powerful Google has become, how it starts to influence all aspects of society, far beyond just privacy issues. Google, on the one hand, is an excellent and imaginative company, yet does not know itself how to act in certain tempting situations. Google, on the other hand, is becoming a threat to economy and culture on a scale much larger than is usually recognized. Some aspects of Web 2.0 influencing the development are
also discussed.

How to Minimize the Effects of a Potential Breakdown of Networks
In this talk I explain that globalization is not only supported by computers and computer networks, but that globalization starts to extend more and more from material products to immaterial objects as witnessed best by WWW and distributed e-Learning. Because of this the interdependency of people and institutions is increasing steadily, bringing with it both advantages but also real or potential disadvantages. A number of concrete examples will be offered to support this thesis.

One of the potential problems is the massive dependence on computers and computer networks: if those were to fail on a massive scale (e.g. through cyber sabotage) the consequences for humanity are traumatic and dramatic. Unfortunately, such a breakdown at some point in the future seems more and more likely. There have been some substantial breakdowns of both computers, networks and electricity systems, but nothing on the scale that I am afraid is likely to happen. Just as one indicator, the number of computer viruses or similarly dangerous programs is constantly rising.

To avoid a large scale failure or to at least minimize its consequences I believe we have to follow a three-pronged plan that I will explain in my presentation. First, we have to try to minimize injustice and inequality in this world as one reason for hatred and terror. Second, instead of unchecked globalization our motto should be "Globalization where necessary and useful, regionalization as much as possible": only by heeding this motto can we reduce the effect of a complete breakdown of our computer infrastructure. Third, we have to work towards safer computers and safer networks, yet have to avoid the temptation to combine this with too much supervision. A number of possible solutions that can make all applications of networked computer dramatically safer are explained.

Vita

Dr. Herman Maurer is professor at the Graz University of Technology since 1978, Dean of Studies 2000-2004 and First Dean of the new School for Computer Science of Graz University of Technology 2004-2007. In addition, director of the Research Institute for Applied Information Processing of the Austrian Computer Society 1983-1998; Chairperson of the Institute for Information Systems and Computer Media since 1988, director of the Institute for Hypermedia Systems of JOANNEUM RESEARCH 1987-2006, co-founder and chairman of the board of Hyperwave AG Munich 1997-2005, vice-chairman of same company since then; founder and scientific advisor of the first research center on Knowledge Management in Austria. Maurer is author of twenty books, more than 600 contributions in various publications, Editor-in-Chief of 'Journal of Universal Computer Science', Co-Editor of 'Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching' and member of over a dozen Editorial Boards. He is chairperson of steering committees and member of program committees of numerous international conferences. Founder of the Conference series ED-MEDIA and WebNet/ eLearn and of the conference I-KNOW. His main research and project areas are: Networked multimedia/hypermedia systems; electronic publishing and applications to university life, exhibitions and museums, Web based learning environments; languages and their applications, data structures and their efficient use, telematic services, computer networks, computer supported new media, dynamic symbolic language, social implications of computers, techniques to fight against plagiarism, and computers in Science Fiction.

Medical Informatics Projects Day 12/9

The Seventh Annual MEDICAL INFORMATICS PROJECTS DAY will be presented on Tues, Dec 9, 3:00 pm to 5:40 pm in Room HOLMES 248 on the UH-Manoa campus.

PROJECTS TO BE PRESENTED:
- the exact topics and schedule of the presentations to be finalized soon
You are cordially invited to attend and give your feedback to these new medical informatics students. This session will be broadcast on SKYPE if you wish to participate remotely -- just let us know your Skype address in advance. Finally, podcasts of the presentations will also be made available. This is an attempt to increase capacity and knowledge in medical informatics at the university and in our community.
Aloha,
Dennis Streveler

New CIS Policies and Procedures

The CIS policies and procedures have been modified in response to requests from both students and faculty, and to make some aspects of our current policy more explicit. The new policies and procedures are effective August 2008. Read the story for more.

Over the past year, the CIS chair has had discussions with both students and faculty concerning possible improvements to the CIS program.

A common request was to decrease the burden of area exams and increase students' focus on research early in the program. Accordingly, the "new plan" requires one less primary area exam, replacing this with a research publication. Students will be assigned research mentors early in the program to facilitate their research progress. This is an incremental improvement rather than radical revision, but we expect it to increase students' involvement in research while they also build the broad interdisciplinary base that distinguishes this Ph.D. program from those based in a single department.

Other changes to the CIS Policies and Procedures document include improved planning for the dissertation defense, and various clarifications of policies under which the program has been operating but were not made explicit in the document.

The "new plan" is mandatory for entering Ph.D. students this fall, and optional for prior students who wish to "upgrade." As we try this over the next several years, the chair invites comments and discussion concerning further revision of the program.

CIS Dissertation: Perceived Quality and Motivations on Intention-to-use of a General Web Portal

Congratulations to Junghyun Nam for passing her dissertation defense! Her study of "Perceived Quality and Motivations on Intention-to-use of a General Web Portal" identified four groups of quality factors perceived by users of web portals: Content relevancy, Communication interactiveness, Information currency, and Instant gratification. Click here to see the abstract and committee.

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the quality attributes of information products from the end-users’ perspective and to measure the impact of these attributes on intention to use. An information product is defined as a highly interdependent package of information that can be digitalized and/or transmitted and distributed in digital form (e.g., a web portal, a software). The quality of an information product consists of three basic component can be derived from the information content (e.g., accuracy and applicability), the physical medium (e.g., timeliness and speed), and the service (e.g., reliability and responsiveness of the product provider). This research draws its theoretical frame from notions of quality, use motivation and intention-to-use. We propose a conceptual framework to investigate the impact of perceived quality and motivations on intention-to-use of an information product. Using a popular and general web portal (Excite.com) as an information product, we conducted an experimental study to explore the importance of 21 quality attributes and 7 motivations. We next measured the impact of perceived web portal quality and motivations on the intention-to-use of the web portal, particularly focusing on personal, information and search services. The experiment was conducted using 142 subjects. Among the 21 quality attributes which theoretically consist of web portal quality, based on what kind of services participants use, highly related quality attributes varied. When it comes to the use of the web portal for personal, information, and search services, applicability always appeared as significantly correlated. One of the most significant findings in this study is the identification of four groups of quality factors perceived by users of web portals. The factors are Content relevancy, Communication interactiveness, Information currency, and Instant gratification. This finding shreds new lights to the understanding of web portals and suggests that there are some quality attributes that are particularly relevant to web portals intention-to-use. Furthermore, social escapism motivation, information motivation, interactive control motivation, and socialization were all highly correlated to each of the following: personal, information, search, and overall intention-to-use. In this research, the use of a web portal could be considered as a social computing activity. When we considered quality factors and motivations at the same time to explain intention-to-use of web portal, social escapism motivation was identified as the main determinant of intention-to-use of the web portal. The findings of this study should help IT professionals to design, develop and deploy more effective general web portals.

On April 18th, Claire Hitosugi, PhD Candidate in Communication and Information Sciences, successfully defended her proposal: "Effects of Culture on Online Initial Trust: Individual Level Analysis", a study that investigates how culture affects initial trust formation of travel websites at the individual level. Congratulations! (Click for abstract and committee.)

Abstract: This study investigates how culture affects initial online trust formation at the individual level. In IS research culture was often analyzed either at the national level or at the organizational level, if culture was investigated at all. Little work has been done on culture and online trust. I will attempt to link cultural constructs to the online initial trust model that was presented by McKnight in 2002. First, I will replicate McKnight’s trust model with new subjects and with new tasks, then I will attempt to integrate cultural factors into the trust model. Culture survey scales will be adopted from the 2006 Srite and Karahanna’s study.

Affordances of Game Play in Educational Contexts - Matt Sharritt's Defense

Matt Sharritt successfully defended his dissertation entitled "Students' Use of Social and Cognitive Affordances in Game Play within Educational Contexts: Implications for Learning" on March 19. Results showed that learning while gaming occurs at multiple granularities, and draws upon affordances provided by gaming partners as well as the game interface. Congratulations, Matt!

Abstract: Literature shows that games can provide an engaging, dynamic, and authentic learning context. Many of the studies on games in the classroom show that games can support teaching standards and outcomes; however, a need exists for research that identifies actual uses of games through the analysis of the social and cognitive affordances employed by student gamers to achieve learning. Such an understanding can inform the design of effective educational games and aid in the appropriation of commercial games for educational use. A study informed by Ethnomethodology using methods of grounded theory provided a detailed description of the use of video games for learning in educational contexts. Results show that learning occurs across multiple levels: the mastery of the computer interface, followed by the mastery of the game interface and upon which groups can achieve advanced strategy aimed at goal achievement. Learning occurs across multiple granularities: occurring either in short episodes; sequences of episodes; or as trends. Learning can be triggered by multiple cues, such as failure, game visualizations or specific representations, as well as by peers or teachers in the social environment. Students used affordances provided by the game interface and learning environment, specifically: the visual representations provided in games afford particular kinds of action; the persistent display of historical context, and present and future potentials motivated learning; specific cues grabbed student attention, focusing their efforts on new or underutilized game tasks; consistent and well organized visualizations encouraged learning; and information presented in a plurality of channels was more effective for learning.

The use of social peers in collaborative learning had several effects on the learning process: peers used strategies of disclosure and negotiation to reach shared meaning objects' purpose and to select game strategies. Peer groups served both cooperative and competitive roles: serving as an information source and to gauge performance. Implications are offered to students, educators, and game designers to better play, implement and design games for learning. A brief comparison of the findings and existing theory will be discussed, comparing results with existing theories of collaborative learning and Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT).

March 13, 2008: Consumer Migration across Technology Service Platforms

Viswanath Venkatesh, a visiting researcher from the University of Arkansas, will speak in the CIS seminar Thursday March 13th at 4pm in POST 127 on "Consumer Migration across Generations of Technology Service Platforms: Roles of Generation, Technology Hierarchy, and Complementarities", based on a study of 4,412 consumers before and after the introduction of the 3G service platform in Hong Kong. Dr. Venkatesh is Professor and George and Boyce Billingsley Chair in Information Systems in the Department of Information Systems, Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas

In addition to presenting the research abstracted below, Dr. will also discuss some of the challenges in conducting this kind of research.

Consumer Migration across Generations of Technology Service Platforms: Roles of Generation, Technology Hierarchy, and Complementarities

Abstract: This paper develops and tests a model of consumer migration to the newest generation of an information and communication technology service platform. Our model is developed by drawing from information systems and consumer behavior research on adoption and use of technologies by consumers. We adapt constructs from the macro-level research on platform leadership, network effects, and innovation ecosystem to propose constructs focused on the complementarities among the hardware platform, software platform, applications, and services. The various determinants so identified are theorized to influence migration intention, with extent of expected change moderating various relationships. We empirically validated our model with data collected from 4,412 consumers before and after the introduction of the 3G service platform in Hong Kong. We found strong support for our model. We also found that migration intention predicted two key behaviors: migration to 3G and use of 3G services.

Biography: Viswanath Venkatesh is a Professor and the first holder of the George and Boyce Billingsley Chair in Information Systems at the Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas, where he has been since June 2004. Prior to that, he was the first Tyser Fellow and an Associate Professor at the Smith School of Business, University of Maryland. He completed his Ph.D. in Information and Decision Sciences at the University of Minnesota in 1997. His research focuses on understanding the diffusion of technologies in organizations and society by focusing on complex technology implementations (e.g., ERP), business process change, social networks, end-user training, user acceptance, gender and age differences, usability, and online consumer behavior. The total sponsorship of his research has been about $10M, including funding from government agencies, such as the NSF and DOT. His research has been published in leading information systems, organizational behavior, and psychology journals. His articles have been cited over 4,000 times per Google Scholars and over 1,400 times per Web of Science. He has taught undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, PhD, and executive seminars since 1996 at the University of Arkansas, University of Maryland, University of Minnesota, Indian School of Business, Helsinki School of Economics, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and several organizations. His current leadership role at the Walton College includes serving as the director of the information systems PhD program. His leadership roles at the Smith School included being the Director of the MBA Consulting Program and leading undergraduate curricular development and redesign. He is currently a Senior Editor at Information Systems Research and is also serving on the editorial boards of Management Science, Decision Sciences Journal and Journal of the AIS, and the editorial review board of Productions and Operations Management. He has served as an Associate Editor on the board of MIS Quarterly and Information Systems Research. MIS Quarterly named him “Reviewer of the Year” in 1999. He has been named to Marquis’ Who’s Who in America in 2007 and 2008.

URL: http://vvenkatesh.com
URL for web site on research: http://vvenkatesh.com/it

Host: Elizabeth Davidson

Jan 16 2008: Zach Tomaszewski's dissertation proposal defense

Zach Tomaszewski successfully defended his CIS dissertation proposal "Marlinspike: The effects of story event threading on an interactive drama." on Wednesday, 16 Jan 2008. Marlinspike is a new interactive drama architecture that incorporates diverse user actions into "threads" of story events connected by narrative necessity, and then weaves these threads together into a single unfolding story.

In a computer-based interactive drama, the player assumes the role of a character in a virtual story world. Through their actions in that world, the player can then affect the outcome of a story generated at runtime. The result is much like a computer roleplaying game, except that play results in a flexible, well-formed story that has not been completely pre-authored.

The work to be presented examines the current poetics model of interactive narrative and proposes some modifications that relieve many of the tensions in the model, as well as making it more widely applicable. It then describes a new interactive drama architecture--Marlinspike--that strives to reincorporate diverse user actions into "threads" of story events connected by narrative necessity. Marlinspike then weaves these threads together into a single unfolding story.

It is intended that this technique will produce interactive narratives with both high user agency and well-formed story structures. The success of Marlinspike in achieving these ends has yet to be evaluated.

Saturday December 8th, the CIS family got together for a picnic at Magic Island to celebrate the holiday season and the end of the fall semester.

After days of wind and rain we had a wonderful sunny Saturday afternoon for our Magic Island CIS picnic.
Faculty and students with their families showed up for food and fun in the sun. We had volleyball games, surfing, swimming, and there were lots of talk story.

The research employed a qualitative method and used three theoretical approaches. The Social Actor Model was the microscope for the situated individual marine stakeholder, Actor-Network Theory was used to analyze the role played by ICTs in the formation and networking of different groups and also to analyze the role of artifacts in advancing actors' agendas, and Social Movement theory served to analyze large-scale changes and mobilizations.

The research was partially funded by a Doctoral Dissertation Improvement grant from the National Science Foundation.

ABSTRACT
The management of marine resources is undergoing a paradigm shift, away from top-down governance by a central power interacting with an stable, limited and relatively homogeneous and isolated set of ocean users, to a field populated by dynamic, abundant, networked and heterogeneous stakeholder groups. These marine stakeholders are playing an increasingly active role in the management and regulation of the ocean resources. This shift has been partly assisted by the increased availability of information about marine resources and by the new communication and information technologies. Together, these developments allow users to become active players, giving rise to a new trend in co-management of marine resources. This research presents evidence that the term of “ocean user” is conceptually limiting and no longer viable to describe ocean stakeholders’ ability to participate in co-management arrangements. This study employed a qualitative approach across three research sites in Hawaii (Waianae, Hanauma Bay, and West Hawaii) to understand the dynamics of selected marine stakeholders’ gathering and use of information, formation of groups and alliances, framing of issues, and affecting regulatory changes. The West Hawaii case study, via the West Hawaii Fisheries Council, yielded the richest data for the research. The Council exemplifies a successful integration of the local community in the management of local marine resources. Data was gathered by using semi-structured interviews, attending meetings and analyzing documents and other artifacts. The analysis was informed by the Social Actor Model of Lamb and Kling (2003), the Actor-Network Model developed by Latour (2005) and Callon (1986) and, to a lesser extent, the Social Movement literature (McAdam, McCarthy & Zald, 1996). Based on the evidence gathered, this study advances the concept of the emerging Hawaii Marine Stakeholder, and offers a description of how the management of the marine resources has accommodated stakeholders. SAM was used to understand the actor, ANT to explain the network, and SM to analyze large-scale changes and mobilizations. The results offer practical implications for the development and implementation of co-management arrangements. Theoretical implications include the analytical integration of diverse approaches to understanding social action situated in the context of environmental management.

IpKin Anthony Wong successfully defended his dissertation where he examined the influences of individual characteristics and organizational structural properties on actors’ use of technology in a domain specific social context.

The study bridges the chasm between the subjective (or deterministic) and the social technology (e.g., structurational) steams of research.

The study adopts the social actor model, and tests hypotheses about ICT use in four actor dimensions with data from a large study of Japan specialists in North America that included extensive information about the organizational contexts in which they work. The research identifies eight general types of ICT use, and contributes to the information systems literature by offering methodological and theoretical implications for future studies.

Abstract:
In organizations, users of technology are often constrained by the organizational structural properties such as norms and resources. Much of the deterministic stream of information system research focuses merely on factors pertaining to the individual level and largely ignores the organizational context in which technology use is given shape. On the other hand, the social steam of information systems research emphasizes social influence on technology use, but it lacks sustentative evidence. In light of these two problems, the literature provides little guidance in determining the extent to which the criterion effects vary among different types of information and communication technology (ICT) use.

The goal of this research is to investigate several areas where the existing literature leaves questions unanswered. This goal is divided into four objectives: (1) to provide a measure of various types of ICT use, (2) to revisit the roles of individual and organizational factors on ICT use, (3) to validate and extend the social actor model posited by Lamb and Kling (2003), and (4) to bridge the chasm between the deterministic and social streams of information systems research. This study adopts the social actor model as the research framework. Variables are conceptualized into four actor dimensions (e.g., identity, interaction, affiliation, and environment) that are postulated to impact actors’ ICT use.

The study tests hypotheses about ICT use in these four actor dimensions with data from a large study of Japan specialists in North America that included extensive information about the organizational contexts in which they work. The research identifies eight general types of ICT use. The social actor model is supported; the results indicate that individual characteristics play a more crucial role in use of technology than organizational structural properties do in professional organizations such as this population. In addition, through elaboration analyses the study uncovers potential moderators and mediators that influence the findings. The research contributes to the information systems literature by offering methodological and theoretical implications for future studies. The research also has implications that may help managers formulate information systems decisions and justify their value propositions.

Ravi Vatrapu successfully defended his dissertation investigating the social consequences of connectivity between participants from similar and different cultures (technological intersubjectivity), and how they used the resources of the interactional environment (appropriation of affordances).

Abstract:
This dissertation begins a research program aimed at a systematic investigation of phenomena in the nexus of culture, cognition and computers. This dissertation investigates two specific research questions related to the effects of culture on appropriation of affordances and on technological intersubjectivity. Affordances are conceptualized as action-taking possibilities and meaning-making opportunities in an environment relative to an actor. Drawing from ecological psychology and by making meaning ecologically cognitive, formal definitions of technology, social and socio-technical affordances are offered. Socio-technical affordances are relational properties in actor-environment systems that provide social action possibilities given the cultural-cognitive capabilities of the actors and the technical capabilities of the environment. A tripartite distinction of intersubjectivity as psychological, phenomenological and technological is made. Technological intersubjectivity (TI) is an emergent phenomenon in socio-technical systems and refers to a technology supported interactional social relationship between two or more participants.

The basic premise of this research is that social affordances of technologies vary along cultural dimensions. To empirically evaluate this premise, an experimental study was conducted into how culture influences the appropriation of socio-technical affordances and technological intersubjectivity in computer supported collaboration. The experimental study design consisted of three independent groups of dyads from similar or different cultures (Anglo-American, Chinese) doing collaborative problem-solving in a knowledge-mapping learning environment. Participants interacted through an asynchronous computer interface providing multiple tools for interaction (diagrammatic workspace, embedded notes, threaded discussion) as they worked on an intellectually challenging problem of identifying the cause of a disease outbreak.

The analytical focus of the experimental study was to determine the influence of culture on the appropriation of affordances by individual participants in an online learning environment. The theoretical objective of the study was to inform the notion of technological intersubjectivity.

Based on theories of culture and empirical findings in cultural psychology documenting cross- cultural variations in behavior, communication and cognition, seven a priori research hypotheses were advanced. Empirical data were collected using demographic, culture and usability instruments; participants' self-perception and collaborative peer-perception instruments; screen recordings and software logs of experimental sessions. Statistical results showed that members of different cultures appropriated the resources of the interface differently in their interaction, and formed differential impressions of each other. For example, on average, Anglo-American participants of the experimental study created more evidential relation links, made more individual contributions and were more likely to explicitly discuss information sharing and knowledge organization strategies than their Chinese counterparts.

The empirical demonstration of a systemic cultural variation in the phenomena of technological intersubjectivity and appropriation of affordances in socio-technical environments is the primary contribution of my dissertation. Other contributions include an empirically informed theory of technological intersubjectivity, a methodological approach for the systematic study of the appropriation of affordances and a formal definition of socio-technical affordances

The proposed work will (1) gather data on blogging practices and policies inside firms; and (2) investigate by structural equation modeling how blogging adds to models of organizational climates that promote (a) knowledge sharing and exchange, and (b) trust in peers and management. The research integrates theories of social capital, trust, organizational climate, and knowledge sharing & exchange to test claims that blogging adds value to firms.

Abstract:
New information technologies provide social support for intellectual collaboration augmenting knowledge-based business activity that has been accelerated by globalization-enabling, inexpensive communication resources. In particular, blogs and wikis are easy-to-use tools for structuring both knowledge and relationships. They interact with the organizational climates of the firms involved and the personalities of their employees. They are promoted as ways to nurture social behavior conducive of increased productivity and job satisfaction.

Blogs have spread in cyberspace as a generally positive innovation. Individuals and groups share their thoughts, musings, pictures, new ideas, and more. Advocates of blogging claim that businesses can ill-afford to do without them. Is that claim with merit, and if so, why?

The proposed research will have two main objectives: First to collect descriptive data on the extent of corporate blogging in a random sample of publicly-traded firms. The second is to test explanatory claims for beneficial social purposes, particularly trust-building blogs in organizations. Compared to publicly-accessible blogs, relatively little has been published about internal corporate blogs, either sponsored, or condoned. As a phenomenon being rapidly tested and adopted, there is an opportunity to gather basic facts about blogging, and test theories of communication, trust, and organizational climate.

The blog phenomenon within firms can be analyzed from the perspective of building social and intellectual capital consistent with the theory of Nahapiet and Ghoshal (1998) and Coleman (1988). That is because the blog encourages network ties, cognitive support, information exchange, and most importantly, relational support. Theories of social capital, trust, organizational climate, and knowledge sharing and exchange can all be applied to test claims of blogging adding value to firms.

Organizational culture, particularly a knowledge-centered culture, and organizational climate are often valuable resources for firms (e.g. Janz & Prasarnphanich, 2003). The literature review presents several good empirical studies showing favorable organizational climate to both increased knowledge sharing and productivity. A common element in most of the organizational climate studies is trust. A trusting culture is positively related to favorable behaviors. A central hypothesis of this proposed study is that blogging increases trust between members within firms.

This dissertation proposes to (1) gather data on blogging practices and policies inside firms from a random sample of the Wilshire 5000 companies; and (2) investigate by structural equation modeling of survey data from MBA students and one or more firmsÃ­ employees if and how blogging adds to models of organizational climates that promote (a) knowledge sharing and exchange, and (b) trust in peers and management. The Collins & Smith (2006) [not this Smith unfortunately] model was selected from several good choices to insert blogging behavior variables.

Sept 18 2007: Stephanie Rolfe dissertation defense

Stephanie Rolfe successfully defended her PhD dissertation exploring and comparing how a donor country and four of its aid partner countries separately conceptualize the role of ICTs for economic and social development.

This study informs the discussion on the ICT construct and its role in development; critiques and extends the conceptual framework used in the study; and makes recommendations for both donor and partner countries for ways to make ICT aid initiatives more effective.

Abstract:
"Many of the assumptions underpinning current thinking on ICTs in development are based on intuition rather than analysis... The danger is that, without better understanding of the real impact of ICTs on both national economies and community development, the pursuit of over-ambitious, unrealistic goals may mean that resources are misapplied and worthwhile objectives missed." -- OECD-DAC, 2004

In the second half of the 20th Century, rapid developments in Information and Communications technologies (ICTs) have seen the evolution of an "information revolution" which supports and drives an increasingly global economy. In this context, the world recognizes a new form of poverty -- "information poverty" -- as developing countries struggle to obtain the infrastructure, skills and other requisites to be participants in that revolution. Increasingly, aid programs to developing countries are focusing on the role that ICTs can play in economic and social development. However the ongoing debate about this role highlights a need for a greater understanding of how donor and recipient countries conceptualize ICTs and their impact on development so that aid initiatives can be more effectively targeted.

This study fills that need by exploring and comparing how a donor country (New Zealand) and four of its aid partner countries (Cook Islands, Fiji, Niue and Samoa) separately conceptualize the role of ICTs for economic and social development. The researcher used data gathered from interviews, observation and archival research in a qualitative study. She then analyzed the data according to a conceptual framework developed by IS scholars Sein & Harindranath (2004) to identify, map & compare each countryâ€™s conceptualization and to determine alignment.

This study contributes to the literature on ICTs for Development by informing the discussion on the ICT construct and its role in development; it also critiques and extends the conceptual framework used in the study; finally, it makes recommendations for both donor and partner countries for ways to make ICT aid initiatives more effective.

Matthew Sharritt sucessfully defended his CIS dissertation proposal "Students' Use of Social and Cognitive Affordances in Game Play within Educational Contexts: Implications for Learning", Friday, April 27 at 11:00am in Crawford 322.

Literature shows that games can provide an engaging, dynamic, and authentic learning context. Much of the studies on games in the classroom show that games can support learning standards and outcomes. However, a need for research exists that identifies actual uses of games through the analysis of the social and cognitive affordances employed by student gamers. Such an understanding can inform the design of effective educational games and aid in the appropriation of commercial games for educational use. A study informed by activity theory, distributed cognition, and ethnomethodology using methods of grounded theory is called for, providing a detailed description of the use of video games in an educational context and projecting potential implications for design for learning.

However, little is known regarding interaction effects between extreme environments’ physical stressors and human cognitive abilities (NASA, 1995), and even less is known regarding interaction effects between field dependency-independency as a cognitive style (Allport, 1937; Witkin & Goodenough, 1981) and ±Gz accelerations as an extreme environment physical stressor (Morrison et al., 1994; Scerbo, 1995). This research proposal argues that to uphold optimal performance under conditions of alternating ±Gz accelerations, user interface design should be informed by a theoretical framework that explains how and why ±Gz accelerations as a physical stressor and field dependency-independency as a cognitive style impact human performance.

This experimental study addresses gaps in our current theoretical understanding of the impact of ±Gz accelerations and field dependency-independency on task performance in human-computer interaction, and investigates the cumulative effects of ±Gz accelerations and field dependency-independency on human sensory-motor performance in the completion of perceptual-motor tasks on a personal digital assistant (PDA). The proposed experimental study will approach the problem from an information processing theoretical perspective and examine how its solution could be generalized to related computerized platforms run in environments characterized by the presence of similar stressors. A controlled experiment, conducted in an aerobatic aircraft under multiple ±Gz conditions, compares and evaluates the performance of field-dependent versus field-independent participants in the completion of two sensory-motor tasks implemented around fundamental low level interaction goals. This study begins a research agenda aimed at the development of perceptually and contextually defined design principles informing the user-interface design of personal digital assistants (PDA) and enabling users in altered ±Gz environments to execute perceptual tasks efficiently without unnecessarily increasing cognitive load and the probability of critical errors.

Apr 17 2007: Trisha Lin dissertation defense

Trisha Tsui-Chuan Lin successfully defended her dissertation, "TV News Digitalization in Taiwan: An Intraorganizational Model of IT Adoption and Implementation".

Abstract:
Digitalization shapes the landscape of TV news industry tremendously. Due to the newness of TV news digitalization, previous studies are fairly limited. To study decision making, implementation strategies, and adoption process of digital TV news systems, this research uses qualitative inquiry (interviewing and overt observation) to examine four Taiwan’s TV stations (FTV, EBC, TVBS, DA-AI) that have successfully adopted digital TV news systems. This research generates a conceptual model that incorportated Rogers’ (2003) innovation process model, Orlikowski’s (1995) technology-use mediation activities, and Leonard-Barton’s (1988) implementation strategies, to guide and sensitize data collection and data analysis. This multiple case study aims to find out 1) what factors affecting decision making of IT adoption, 2) how decision making process relates to IT implementation strategies, 3) the processes and variations in adopting digital TV news systems in the four TV stations; and 4) how such digital technology affects news production process, and news representation, news work, and collaboration. After systematic qualitative data analysis, this research has several important findings. First, relative advantage, compatibility, cost, and sustainability are most concerned perceived characteristics of innovation that affect managerial decisions to adopt digital TV news systems. Individual level factors and organizational level factors affect the adoption decision more than environmental level factors. Second, adopting a total solution technology leads to a relatively simple, linear process, while adopting a self-developed, integrated system represents complex, paralleled developmental paths. Third, distinct implementation characteristics of digital TV news technology (low transferability, high organizational complexity, high divisibility) set parameters for managers to make implementation strategies for deploying TV news systems. Training/evaluations are essential in assimilating this production IT successfully. Fourth, digital TV news systems have greater impact on news production process, news work, and collaboration than on news representations. Finally, a refined model is developed to investigate the adoption and implementation of core production technology in digital broadcasting. This teleological model shows various decision events, reciprocal interaction, and vagueness in the adoption process.

Patricia Donohue successfully defended her CIS PhD dissertation proposal: "Analysis of the technological, conversational, and pedagogical influences on learning quadratics: a case study", on Monday, April 16 at 10 am, in POST 302.

A key challenge for applied educational research has been the inability to identify and track how learning occurs during instruction. Research has expanded our ability to measure what learning has occurred and to what degree, but few studies have documented how learning takes place in the classroom. This research describes an ethnomethodological case study to explore what factors might influence the learning of quadratic expressions during two tenth-grade mathematics classes. Classes were designed to work in small group discussions using individual graphing calculators for problem solving. The research goal is exploration of the cognitive, affective, and technological influences on learning, looking for what patterns or learning sequences might emerge from analysis. Each class was conducted with a different pedagogical approach: one using the graphing calculator alone, and the second using the graphing calculator with a networked system designed for community learning. Data was collected from daily observations, surveys, conversation analysis, and several assessments of achievement. Student data will be analyzed to identify any correlation between pedagogical method and student achievement. Surveys will be analyzed for student perceptions of math difficulty and technology use. Group conversations will be analyzed for student interactions during problem solving and insights into patterns and episodes of learning. Early results show surprising episodes of learning during conversations between pairs, triads, and quads that appear to have helped individuals understand the mathematics, suggesting further investigation into how collaborative learning might influence individual achievement. Group conversations also suggest that students were less affected by pedagogical or technological influences, preferring to challenge and guide each other through discussion to a mutual understanding. If collaborative interaction produces a greater or equally significant influence on learning than technological, pedagogical, or environmental factors, the implication for instructional design indicates a need to include collaborative work and a method for monitoring group discussion.

Dec 12 2006: Jennifer Campbell-Meier dissertation proposal defense

CIS Ph.D. student Jennifer Campbell-Meier successfully defended her dissertation proposal: "Factors influencing the development of institutional repositories", on Tuesday December 12th at 3:45pm, in POST 302.

The development of an institutional repository (IR) is one of the more complex projects that librarians may undertake. While many librarians have experience managing large information system projects, IR projects involve a larger stakeholder group and require support from technical services, public services and administration to succeed. While the growth of IRs has been slower in the United States than in Europe, a survey by Lynch and Lippincott (2005) found that more than 40% of the 97 doctoral universities surveyed had developed an institutional repository. While only 178 colleges and universities participated in the survey, many of the respondents were developing or interested in developing an institutional repository. With more than 4,000 degree granting institutions in United States, an increase in the development of repositories is expected with technology and process improvements (Pocket Guide, 2005). This study investigates the factors influencing the development of institutional repositories at academic institutions. A comparative case study analysis approach will be employed to gather and analyze data, and provide a detailed account and analysis of academic institutional repositories. By identifying how institutional repositories are developing and the challenges that they face, developmental models can be identified for libraries, providing a generalized view of IR development to improve the process for future adopters. This study aims to contribute to a more informed understanding of the development of IRs and how individual institutions model repository development.